


The Sea Captain's House - Part 13

by Beautyinthemoonlight



Series: The Sea Captain's House [13]
Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2020-07-09 17:27:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 41
Words: 312,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19891591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beautyinthemoonlight/pseuds/Beautyinthemoonlight
Summary: 2032 & 2033 bring plenty of love, laughter, and tears to the inhabitants of the big old house.  College crises, middle school struggles, and elementary school scenarios all test Ali and Ashlyn as parents.  Life is sweet, but it can be bitter too and the Kriegers learn to handle loss and illness and heartache like every other family - the hard way.  There are new neighbors, and other surprises as well.  But love prevails, as always, with Ali and Ashlyn working together.





	1. Going Grey

**Author's Note:**

> Hello fam! I'm back! This one's not quite done yet so I'll be posting a chapter every other night until I finish writing it (don't worry, I'm close - and I'll never ever leave you hanging. I promise).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut warning

“OH. MY. GOD!!”

Ashlyn sat up abruptly and rubbed her eyes as she tried to shake the sleep out of her head. Her wife’s loud exclamation had alarmed and then confused the keeper as she slept early that January morning. Ashlyn fumbled for her glasses as she dragged herself out of their bed and hurried towards the closed master bathroom door. It was 5:55am and the only thing that could get her up that early was concern for her wife or children. 

“Are you alright?” she asked through a yawn and knocked softly on the door. When she got no response, the keeper spoke again with a bit more urgency as the growing worry woke her up even more. “Al, what’s wrong? Are you ok?”

“I’m fine” Ali replied flatly. 

If Ashlyn didn’t know better and hadn’t been fast asleep until a moment ago she might have thought she was in trouble with her wife.

“What’s going on? You gave me a heart attack” the keeper frowned as she opened the door and stepped into the bathroom, quickly closing it behind her so the warm, humid air from Ali’s shower didn’t escape. “Why are you yelling?”

As she let her eyes get adjusted to the brightness of the bathroom, Ashlyn took in the sight in front of her. The brunette stood on the thick white bath rug, facing the middle of the room, away from Ashlyn at almost a side angle, still mostly wet from the shower. Her towel had obviously been dropped mid-use and was laying on the floor behind her, and Ali was hunched over with both hands between her legs. The keeper blinked and cocked her head slightly as she felt the worry give way slightly to some amusement as well as a healthy shot of desire. Seeing Ali Krieger naked and still glistening wet would always do things to her. She was only human.

The brunette mumbled something but kept her full attention on what her hands were doing, not sparing even a glance over her shoulder for her wife. Ashlyn was relieved as she realized there wasn’t something seriously wrong with her beautiful brunette.

“Umm, I didn’t quite catch that” the blonde couldn’t keep the grin off her face as she took a step forward, putting her hand on Ali’s lower back, and her lips on her shoulder. “But I’m curious as hell, I gotta tell ya.”

Ali sighed and slumped her shoulders as she straightened up and frowned, still not looking at her wife. Ashlyn wrapped her arms around her from behind, not caring that she was getting her sleep shorts and t-shirt wet. She pressed soft kisses into the brunette’s shoulder and worked her way towards her neck. She tried to peek over Ali’s shoulder but the brunette still had both hands covering her crotch. Ali just groaned dejectedly in response and slowly shook her head.

“Aw, come on baby, what’s the matter?” Ashlyn cooed into her wife’s cheek and then kissed it sweetly. “Whatever it is can’t possibly be worse than finding a tick down there” she chuckled and gave Ali a squeeze. She loved the way the brunette felt in her arms and the way she smelled – the combination of shampoo and body wash filling her senses and making her desire rise even higher. “Mmmmm...you smell so good...” she purred into the brunette’s ear.

Ali felt the vibe in the room shift and knew where her wife was headed.

“Yeah, well you’re never gonna wanna have sex with me again after this...” the brunette chuckled in an attempt to hide the self-doubt and sadness she was feeling.

“What?” Ashlyn made a face and clucked her disagreement. “You’re crazy lady, what the hell are you talking about?” she nuzzled into Ali’s neck and let her lips and teeth wander up towards her ear with gentle nips and soft kisses. “There’s nothing that could keep me from wanting what you’re hogging all to yourself down there right now.”

“Don’t be so sure” Ali sighed again and folded her arms across her wife’s, still around her middle. “But thanks for being so sweet to me.”

“Hey” Ashlyn pulled her head back, her voice full of concern again. “Listen, I’m sure. And you should be too” she turned the brunette around and cupped her face with both hands. She was surprised at how bereft Ali looked and felt bad for taking whatever was going on so lightly. “Aw, honey...what is it?” she tilted her head as she tried to read the amber eyes in front of her. “I didn’t realize how upset you are. I’m sorry...”

“Oh, you don’t have to be sorry” Ali dropped her eyes but couldn’t lower her head because the keeper’s big hands held it in place. She sighed heavily again and took a deep breath before meeting Ashlyn’s gaze. “I’m just being a baby. I’m making a big deal out of nothing” she shrugged.

“Well, something upset you enough to make you yell” the keeper nodded expectantly and then gave her wife’s lips a quick kiss before continuing. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on and then we can decide how serious a problem it is together, ok?”

“Ok” Ali mumbled into her wife’s neck as they hugged and held each other for a full minute before pulling back.

“Ok” Ashlyn encouraged with a sweet smile and another nod. “Tell me...”

It took another minute of blushing and stalling for the brunette to speak again, and when she finally did so, she kept her eyes down. Their bodies were still together from the waist down and Ali’s skin was starting to break out in goosebumps from the cooling air and her still damp skin. The brunette’s voice was small and shy and the keeper had a hard time hearing the words even though their faces were only a foot apart.

“I found a grey hair.” 

“What honey?”

“You’re not seriously gonna make me say it again...” Ali quirked her eyebrow at her wife who was trying hard to put it together. 

Ashlyn scrunched her face up as she played a number of different versions of the words she thought her wife might have said through her mind. Finally, her eyebrows shot up in recognition.

“Oh! You found a grey hair...down there” her eyebrows were still up high and she couldn’t disguise the look of surprise on her face.

Ali would turn 48 later that year and Ashlyn would turn 47 and they had both found a grey hair in their heads a few times over the past couple of years. It was never a big deal and there was never more than the odd one here or there. It never made either one of them feel very good, but they had both taken the few occurrences in stride. But this was different. This was new territory and Ashlyn wasn’t going to pretend it wasn’t. The vulnerable, anxious look on her beautiful brunette’s face broke her heart and she dropped to her knees before Ali could even think of stopping her.

“Ashlyn, what are you doing?” she asked, slightly annoyed and embarrassed and frustrated – both with her wife and the situation. She tried to pull the keeper back up but knew she had already missed her chance to stop her.

“I wanna see it” the keeper put her long fingers to work, gently combing through the longer short hairs covering her wife’s mound.

“What? Why?”

“Baby,” Ashlyn looked up and found her wife’s nervous face. She reached one arm around behind her and held Ali in place while she pressed a warm kiss into her belly. “I wanna see the most beautiful grey hair that ever existed” she returned her eyes to her wife’s and could see the wheels turning in the brunette’s head. “We’re both gonna get grey hairs Al” she shrugged. “And if they’re on this gorgeous body, your gorgeous body” she let her hand wander from Ali’s mound across her stomach and up her side and over her breasts before pulling it back down to her hip, “then I’m gonna love them just as much as I love everything else. I’m gonna think they’re just as sexy and hot as I think these dark hairs are right now.” 

Ashlyn raked her fingers through her wife’s dark curls and hummed quietly as she watched the digits scratch softly. She was getting turned on just thinking about it. Ali felt her keeper’s hands on her body and heard the unmistakable sound of want in her voice. She knew that hum. She knew what it meant and what it promised. She also knew that Ashlyn was sweet enough to do anything to make her feel better about this new insecurity. As she debated how to respond, she felt her wife’s lips press softly into her stomach again and start to move lower at a slow but steady pace. She was about to step away from her and get back to her morning routine – it was a work day after all and she had to get going if she was going to get the kids to school on time that morning. But at the last second, she caught sight of Ashlyn’s tawny hazel eyes as they looked up at her with equal parts love and lust in them. She felt a pang in her core and more goosebumps erupt across her skin.

“Will you show me?” the blonde’s voice was decidedly turned on, even though she was trying to hold her libido in check. She didn’t want to pounce on Ali when the poor thing was feeling insecure and unsure of herself. “Please?”

“I...I pulled it” Ali felt a shiver run through her system as she kept her eyes on the darkening hazel ones at her waist.

“Already? Well that’s too bad” the keeper paused for a few seconds as her hands continued to massage her wife’s skin slowly and seductively. 

“I’m sorry...” Ali couldn’t believe she was apologizing for pulling a grey hair out of her bush while she was drying off after her morning shower. But somehow she wasn’t surprised that Ashlyn had been able to not only make her feel ok about it, but also get her turned on at the same damned time.

“Don’t be sorry baby” Ashlyn let her chin bump against the bottom of her wife’s mound, dangerously close to her clit, but kept her lidded eyes locked onto her favorite whiskey-colored ones above her. “But I wanna see the next one, whenever you find it, ok?” she had one hand on Ali’s ass, holding her in place, and the other working its way up her side and towards her breast. She let the back of her fingers run across her wife’s nipple and heard Ali suck in a quick breath at the exciting new touch. “Please Al?”

“Yeah, ok” the brunette swallowed hard and nodded as a moan escaped her lips when Ashlyn’s chin made contact with her clit again.

“Promise?” the keeper’s hot breath made Ali’s whole pussy tingle.

The brunette gasped and grabbed her wife’s head with both hands, fists full of shaggy blonde and light brown hair.

“I promise...shit...babe...” she closed her eyes and moaned again. “Fuck, we don’t have time...”

“Sure we do” Ashlyn husked back as she felt her wife spread her legs a bit more for her. As usual, Ali’s mouth and brain were saying one thing while the rest of her body was telling the keeper something entirely different. “I’ll be quick.”

“What if I don’t want you to be quick?” 

“Then it’s my lucky morning” Ashlyn hummed loudly into her wife’s wet folds when she finally got her mouth where she really wanted it. “Mmmmmmm...goddamn you taste so good baby...Jesus fucking Christ...”

The keeper reached a long arm over to the bathroom doorknob and locked it as Ali tried to pull her sleep t-shirt up over her blonde head.

“I need to feel you...” the brunette moaned as she staggered back towards the double vanity counter, dropping the sleep t-shirt to the floor on the way. 

Ashlyn didn’t wait for more requests or, worse, for Ali to change her mind, or even worse than that, for one of the kids to come knocking on the door. She was supposed to get Drew up at 6:15am so he could get dressed, eat breakfast and be out the door towards the bus at 7:05am. The keeper quickly reminded herself that she could drive him to school late if that’s how the morning went. With fresh resolve, she steadied her brunette against the counter and slipped her two middle fingers deep inside her pulsing core.

“Do you feel me now?” she purred before taking a bite out of Ali’s right hip, making the brunette whine loudly. Ashlyn smirked against the Nittany lion and told her wife to be quiet. “Shhhh...”

“Fuck...God that feels good...”

“Do you want me to fuck you on the counter or down here on the floor?” she husked out the question, her libido well beyond her control anymore. The smell and taste of Ali’s passion were the only things she cared about, besides her wife’s comfort. Ashlyn was always so fucking considerate, even at times like this. “Can you stand up or...”

“Just fuck me babe, I need you...right now, right here...”

The urgency in Ali’s voice made the keeper’s own core twitch and then ache. The brunette was backed up against the vanity with her hands gripping the edge of the counter and her dark eyes blazing right back into Ashlyn’s lidded ones. The hazel orbs often took on a dark, swirling appearance when the keeper was turned on, and, even at that ungodly hour of the morning, Ali read the lust and desire in them loud and clear. 

Ashlyn didn’t hesitate. She nipped again at the soft skin below her wife’s hip and slid her long fingers almost all the way out of the brunette’s wet pussy before pushing them back in again. She was surprised at how ready Ali was for this – she was soaking wet already, but then remembered that the brunette had told her repeatedly how turned on she got whenever Ashlyn was sweet and kind to her, or anybody she loved. This early morning delight was simply more proof.

“Mmmm...I love you baby...you’re so fucking sexy...”

Ali closed her eyes as she listened to the blonde’s throaty words and felt her moving inside her. She clenched her walls and tried to grab at Ashlyn’s fingers as they pumped and probed and pressed into all of her favorite spots. Another hum from the keeper’s lips on her skin sent a bolt of pleasure right up the brunette’s spine and made her tilt her head back and grip the counter even harder.

“Jesus...fuck...yessssss...” Ali groaned as quietly as she could while she prayed to God that none of the kids came to interrupt them.

As much as they both missed their sweet morning moments with Dodge, neither of them were happier about his new habit of going downstairs on his own. He was 8-1/2 years old and perfectly capable of getting his own cereal and milk, especially since they had started using smaller, more kid-friendly sized containers for the milk. Dodge also didn’t get up quite as early as he used to. As he grew, he started staying awake a bit later which had led to his 6:30am wake-up time changing to 6:45 or even 7:00am sometimes. But there were still mornings, maybe once a week, where he would come into the master bedroom and cuddle with Ashlyn while Ali got ready for work. Neither woman wanted to see him this morning, that was for sure.

Ashlyn kept her right hand working between her wife’s legs while her left hand moved expertly from one breast to the other, pinching and squeezing and tugging until Ali’s dark nipples were stiff points. The rock-hard buds felt like they were boring holes into the keeper’s palm as she continued to play with them, moaning her approval and want directly into the brunette’s lower abdomen.

“Mmmm...mmmmmm...so good...so fucking hot...shit, baby...Goddamn you make me crazy...” Ashlyn groaned and mumbled the sultry words into her wife’s mound as her mouth worked its way down towards another sensitive bud.

“Yessssss, unnnhhhh...” Ali groaned softly, her body rocking now with her wife’s fast rhythm between her legs. “My clit babe...unnnhhhh...”

The brunette sucked in a breath when she felt Ashlyn’s tongue trace a strong circle around her clit. She pushed her hips away from the counter and towards her wife’s eager face, knowing Ashlyn would push her right back into place with her strong mouth. Everything felt incredible – the strong fingers curling up into her g-spot, the big hand nimbly shifting from one erect nipple to the next and back again, the hot lips and mouth that sucked her entire clit in and made her whimper and whine as Ashlyn held her in place against the vanity. Pleasure from all those areas flooded through her system and the brunette felt her orgasm begin to form, way down deep.

“Oh God...yes baby, oh God...just like that...” Ali panted out as the flush started to creep up her chest towards her neck. The knuckles of both hands were white as she held onto the edge of the counter for dear life. This was going to be a good ride, she could tell. “Oh God...right there, yesssss...”

Ashlyn felt her wife’s thigh twitch next to her head and knew she was close. This might be a record for fastest orgasm and the idea spurred the keeper on. She kept up the same fast, aggressive movements with both her hands and sucked even harder on the soft, sensitive flesh she loved so much. Ali’s clit was hard and swollen and the keeper felt herself get dizzy for a few seconds as her own desire surged. 

“Mmmmm...come on baby, I’ve got you” she moaned into Ali’s mound as she moved her face from side to side, pressing it hard against Ali’s own grinding pressure. “I won’t let you fall...I’ve got you...”

“My clit...more...faster...” the brunette gasped out.

Ashlyn lowered her mouth again and sucked hard, flicking her tongue as hard and fast as she could across her wife’s bundle of nerves. Ali hissed and moaned and grabbed Ashlyn’s head with both hands, holding it in place and grinding against it as her body got ready to explode. 

“Mmmmmmm...” Ashlyn hummed into her wife’s clit and pinched the nipple between her fingers hard.

“Oh my God!” 

Ali’s shout, as quiet as she was trying to be, filled the bathroom as her orgasm hit her hard. Pleasure exploded through her body and she shook and twitched and doubled over, never letting go of her wife’s head between her legs. Ashlyn slowed her fingers down but kept them moving inside the brunette’s wet, constricted center. She pulled her other hand away from the small, perfect breasts she loved so much and wrapped her arm around Ali’s thigh for support, pushing her against the vanity to keep her from falling. She stopped sucking and flicking and let the brunette hold her head where it was, her face buried in the bush that turned her on more than ever – grey hair or not. Ashlyn felt herself get lost in the moment, transported so close to her own release by the scent and feel of her wife’s passion spilling over her fingers and right under her nose. It had only been 15 minutes, but it felt like hours as the keeper got lost in the rapturous moment. She hummed and pressed kisses into Ali’s mound but the touches were more than the brunette could handle. She squealed and pushed her wife’s face away with a breathy chuckle.

“Oooh, too much babe...sorry” she apologized for the shove that had sent the keeper back onto her butt, hands leaving the brunette’s body in a rush. Ali dropped to her knees in front of the blonde and pulled her to her knees and into a passionate kiss. “God I love you” she whispered when they finally took a break for air. “So damned much.”

“And I love you...all of you...” Ashlyn replied in a husky voice that matched the lust-drunk look on her face.

“Even my grey hairs?” Ali teased as she let her hands find the pretty pink nipples in front of her.

“Especially your grey hairs...”

They shared a deep, loving look that spoke so many things between them. Neither of them could imagine a time when they didn’t love and want the other’s body, it didn’t matter what the hell color the hairs on it were. And they would always be there for each other, to help guide them through the moments of doubt and insecurity that were just a natural part of spending a life together. Ali saw her wife squirm and press her thighs together in a weak attempt to relieve the ache between them. She pushed her back again so the keeper was lying flat on her back on the plush bath rug in front of the shower. 

“Can I?” she asked as she took in the beautiful sight before her, even though Ashlyn still wore her annoying UNC sleep shorts.

“I think I might die if you don’t” came the urgent reply as the keeper pushed her own shorts down over her hips.

“Well we can’t have that, now can we?” Ali smirked as she pulled the shorts all the way off and then lay on top of her gorgeous keeper. She pressed a thigh into her wife’s mound and groaned when she felt Ashlyn grind up against it. “Somebody’s in a hurry” Ali giggled after another sensual kiss.

“I almost came...just watching you” Ashlyn panted out between gasping breaths. “I need you Al” she reached down and grabbed the brunette’s ass with both hands, pulling it against her own body as hard as she could.

“I can see that” the brunette purred, loving how turned on Ashlyn was.

“Please baby, don’t tease me...”

The desperation in Ashlyn’s voice touched Ali deep inside and pushed her into immediate action.

“I won’t” she shook her head and locked fiery eyes with the love of her life. “I’m here babe. I love you. I’m gonna make you feel soooo good...”

She knew Ashlyn was ready to come right away and did everything she could to help speed her release along. Ali reached down and pushed two fingers inside the trembling blonde, putting her talented mouth to work on those pink nipples at the same time.

“Oh my fucking God” Ashlyn groaned as her eyes slammed shut of their own accord. Her clit was actually painful it was so excited, and every bump against it by the heel of Ali’s palm sent exquisite shots of pleasure through the rest of her body. “Jesus Christ...” she grunted as her body writhed beneath her beautiful brunette.

“I won’t make you wait...I love you Ashlyn...” Ali spoke as she met her wife’s lips with another deep kiss, replacing her mouth with her other hand on Ashlyn’s nipples. “I love you...”

It felt to Ashlyn like the brunette was everywhere. Her hand thrusting and curling inside her soaked pussy. Her lips all over her mouth and chin and neck. Her other hand fondling and pinching her breasts until her nipples were sticking straight up like beautiful pink marble columns. Fuck that felt good. She groaned again as she felt Ali pick up the pace with everything she was doing.

“Don’t stop...please...don’t stop...” Ashlyn begged as she slid her hand down between her legs and started rubbing her own clit hard and fast. “Oh fuck...yeah baby...I’m there...mmmmmm...” she gasped out every few seconds as her body raced up the mountain faster than she could ever remember. It was only a few seconds before she was at the top, ready to jump off into ecstasy. Her voice was a strangled cry. “Ali!”

The keeper came hard, her body shaking and spasming on the floor while Ali tried to hold her and keep the ride going for as long as possible.

“Yes baby...oh God you’re so beautiful, so fucking gorgeous Ash...yes baby...fucking sexy as hell...” the brunette murmured as Ashlyn rolled them onto their sides and held her close, intertwining their legs and panting into her neck. 

They were both quiet for a couple of minutes, listening to the sounds of the big old house as it started to come to life that morning. Their hearts were pounding in their chests as they clung to each other, trying to savor every last second they possibly could out of the moment. It was just after 6:30am and they heard Dodge open his bedroom door, walk across the hall to let Logan out of Lily’s room, and then accompany her down the stairs to the first floor. They couldn’t make out his exact words, but they could hear his voice talking to the dog along the way. Ali giggled and kissed her wife’s head while Ashlyn chuckled into the brunette’s neck. 

“Whew, I was so afraid he’d pick this morning to come in again” the brunette exhaled.

“Me too. And I’m not kidding, I think I might actually have died if we didn’t have time for me...”

“Aw, I wouldn’t have let that happen honey” the brunette gave the blond hair at the top of her keeper’s head another kiss. “I would have gotten him settled downstairs and come back up...we would have figured something out.”

“Mmmhmmm...sure. I’ve heard that before” Ashlyn teased.

“Listen, if you’d let me go first instead of always being so bossy, you wouldn’t get stuck in that situation...”

“Oh so it’s my fault now, is it?” the keeper gave Ali’s neck a quick, teasing bite.

“Ow, hey, don’t you dare mark me up” she warned, only half playfully. “I mean it.”

“I know, I know” Ashlyn gave her gentle kisses before stretching and groaning but never loosening their embrace. “But just for the record, it wasn’t me who gave you a million hickeys before Meg’s first visit that summer” she pulled her head back so she could give the brunette a dirty look.

“What?” Ali frowned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about” she shook her head and shrugged, playing dumb. “Doesn’t sound like me at all.”

“Oh yeah right” Ashlyn rolled her eyes and pinched her wife’s ass, making her yelp. “Must have been my other girlfriend then.”

“Ok, ok” Ali giggled and squirmed as Ashlyn began tickling her. 

“Sure it was ok for you” the keeper kept up the gentle tickle torture, she wanted to punish her wife for the hickey debacle from 16 years ago but she didn’t want to let her out of her arms yet either. It was a delicate balance that she had almost perfected over the years. “You weren’t the one who had to cover your whole body up to take Meg to the beach that week.”

“Yeah alright, that was not great planning on our part...”

“Our part, excuse me?”

“Yeah, our part” Ali giggled and squirmed some more, getting her own nipple pinch into the low-level game. “You planned one of our bubble weekends right before their visit. Not my fault. You can’t honestly expect me to control myself in that situation.”

“Oh so that’s your excuse, is it?” Ashlyn laughed softly as she found more skin to play with.

“No” Ali quirked her eyebrow at her wife who lifted her head to meet her gaze. “I was just marking my territory, that’s all.”

“Yes you were” Ashlyn grinned at her wife, still not sure how she had gotten so lucky with a new girlfriend who had allowed her to have her ex-girlfriend and daughter come and stay with her for a whole week. “Once I stopped being mad at you about it, I really loved that you did that. That you loved me enough to want to keep me to yourself.”

“Oh yeah, jealousy and insecurity are such attractive traits” Ali rolled her eyes and giggled until Ashlyn surprised her with another deep, meaningful kiss that lasted long enough to leave them both breathless again. “What was that for?” the brunette asked as they panted together.

“For loving me and for wanting me and for making me feel like a million bucks” Ashlyn answered sincerely, her voice soft and serious even though her face was smiling and light.

“I’ve always loved you, babe” Ali replied and gave her another kiss. “And I wanted you the very first time I saw you” she giggled. “Half-naked in what I thought was an empty house...”

“Oh yeah right” Ashlyn mocked her and laughed. “How many other customers did you peep on when you were supposed to be ‘measuring’ their windows?” she teased, using air quotes, and tickling her wife again.

“Just you, sugar” Ali winked and squealed as the tickling picked up again. “No, no stop...” she gasped out between laughs. “You were the only one, I swear...”

“I better have been...” the keeper threatened playfully, taking a nipple in her fingers and raising her eyebrows.

“You were, you were...I swear!” the brunette giggled again. “You were my first half-naked customer and my last and thank fucking God because I don’t know where I’d be without you” she spoke quickly to try and keep her wife’s hands from tweaking her still-sensitive nipple. “I love you so much, All-star. So fucking much.”

Ashlyn kissed her hard, making them both moan as she palmed the nipple instead of tweaking it. Ali moved her thigh up until it was pressed into the damp and now cooling wetness of her wife’s pussy. The sensation sent a thrill through both their bodies. Just as the kiss turned even deeper, there was a knock on the bathroom door, making both women whine. 

“Mom, Drew’s not up yet” Dodge’s voice reported from the other side of the door. “I don’t know where Mama is either.”

“It’s ok honey” Ali answered. “Mama’s here too.”

“I’ll be right there” Ashlyn replied. “Thanks buddy.”

It was 6:45am and they had a household to run and four children to get to school. As much as they would have loved to stay right there in each other’s arms, they helped each other up and pulled their bathrobes on like the responsible parents they were. As they were about to leave the room to get the kids up and moving, Ashlyn tugged Ali to a stop.

“Thank you for telling me about your grey hair” she smiled sincerely into her wife’s beautiful, still slightly flushed, face. “I’m sorry it upset you” she kissed Ali’s cheek sweetly. “But I’m glad you told me. You’re the most beautiful woman in the whole world Al. Don’t you ever forget that.”

Ali felt her heart melt again, for the millionth time, and fill with gratitude and appreciation. What had started out as a pretty bleak morning had been transformed into an amazing one instead. And it was all because Ashlyn was the most supportive partner she could ever imagine having. The keeper hadn’t just said the right words to Ali in her time of self-doubt and insecurity. That would have been sweet enough and Ali would have appreciated it immensely. But Ashlyn had gone a step farther and shown her beautiful brunette just how much she still wanted and needed her, grey pubic hair and all. 

“How could I ever forget” Ali blinked softly at her keeper. “I have the most amazing wife who always reminds me” she gave her a quick but real kiss. “I’m the luckiest woman in the whole fucking world Ash, and I know it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How about that Orlando Pride win tonight?! Loved seeing Ali and Ash playing a full 90 again. I hope the second half of the season is just as good as the first half was frustrating. Let's go win streak!!!!!


	2. Lunch Money & Family Recipes

The rest of January was quiet but not uneventful. The first month of the year had always been a favorite for both Ashlyn and Ali when they were childless. It was Ashlyn’s offseason and Ali’s slowest time of the year in her old sales job so they had lots of quality time to spend together. January was when they reconnected and snuggled in for long stretches of time to recharge the battery that kept their relationship going through good times and bad. January was when they would binge watch shows and movies together and play video games and generally hibernate in the big old house. 

Those times were long gone, but the first month of the year was still one of the quietest for the family, kids included. Meg was on winter break between the Fall and Spring semesters at Boston College. She went home to Washington DC and spent time with her mother and caught up with her high school friends until the last week of January when classes started again. The younger Krieger kids were also blissfully unencumbered by activities for most of the month. Youth league basketball didn’t start until the end of January so there were no practices to get to after dinner and no games to attend on the weekend. There were no school plays or talent shows happening until April or May so there were no rehearsals or extra practicing required for any of them. It was just a much more laidback month for everybody. 

Ali often planned business trips for Ashlyn in January just for this reason. It was the best month of the year for her to go with her keeper to Los Angeles to shoot a new commercial for American Express, or to do the Ellen DeGeneres special as she had done in the past. It was the best month to take an overnight trip to New York City to check in on the big, booming business Knight-Harris was doing in the big apple or to visit Ashlyn’s clothing business which Kyle’s friend Daniel was running expertly. January had become one of Ali and Ashlyn’s favorite months of the year without them even realizing it. Except for the nasty winter weather and freezing cold temperatures, Ashlyn loved January more than almost any other month that didn’t also start with a J.

January 2032 was no different. The keeper attended the NWSL college draft in the middle of the month, her second as an owner of the Boston Breakers instead of as the emcee for the league. The draft, just like Championship Week in October, rotated around the country to different locations so all of the teams could host and reap the benefits of the influx of publicity and commerce that surrounded both events. Last year the draft had been held in San Jose, California and the Quicksilver had been the hosts. This year the Washington Spirit were welcoming the NWSL, and all of women’s college soccer, to the nation’s capital and Ashlyn was excited to get to hang out with Meg for a day afterward. Yes, the Kriegers saw a lot of Meg up in Boston now, but there was something special about going to DC and spending time with her there. It was nostalgic and it filled Ashlyn’s heart with so many memories of making the trip all those years when Meg was growing up. 

“Aw, I think that’s a great idea babe” Ali tilted her head and gave her wife a nose-crinkling smile during dinner a few nights before the trip. Another benefit of having no practices to race off to in January was actually getting to sit down together for dinner almost every night of the week. “She’ll love going to the aquarium with you again.”

“Yeah, you think?” Ashlyn asked, sounding the tiniest bit shy about the whole thing. 

“Why are you taking her to the aquarium?” 10-1/2 year old Josie asked, confusion on her face as she chewed the piece of chicken she had just shoved into her mouth. The girl still was their best mealtime eater, which was saying something considering Dodge ate everything in his path. 

“Well, when Meggie was little I used to go and visit her, down in Washington...”

“Like when we went there on vacation?” Lily, 8-1/2, cocked her head, intrigued.

“Yeah, pretty much” Ashlyn chuckled. “Except I did it after one of my games. I’d stay a day later than the rest of the team so I could hang out with Meg.”

“And you took her to the aquarium” 12-1/2 year old Drew nodded. “There’s a picture of you guys and a bunch of stuffed animals...”

“Oh those stuffed animals” Ali laughed out loud, her face turning right back up into another big grin as she remembered all of the different stuffed animals Ashlyn had bought Meg at the aquarium over the years. “What was the highest count on the stuffed shark? Five?”

“Huh?” Dodge squinted, trying to follow along.

“I love sharks...” Ashlyn began to explain but was interrupted when every person sitting at the nook table with her rolled their eyes and teased her about how well aware they were of her love for sharks. Drew was the most vocal about the teasing.

“Where do you think you got your ‘shark boy’ nickname?” Ali elbowed Drew from her place on the banquette seat between the two boys before giving him a playful but challenging look. “And why do you think your first big boy bed was a shark?”

All the kids laughed and Drew blushed a little bit, unable to argue either point and knowing he should just let this one blow over.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever” he shook his head and tried not to smile.

“Keep going honey” Ali nodded at her wife and then sent her a wink.

“Well, unlike all of you clowns, Meg thought it was cool that I loved sharks and every time we went to the aquarium and I offered to buy her a stuffed animal, she always chose a shark. Sometimes the exact same stuffed shark we had just bought the last time” she chuckled. “The answer is 6” she replied to Ali’s question finally. “And the only reason it’s not 20-something is because I talked her out of getting a shark more often than not.”

“You should buy her a shark this time!” Josie sat up at attention, thrilled by her own idea. “To, like, remember all the other times you went there with her” she looked eagerly at her Mama, waiting to see if her idea would be adopted or shot down.

“You think so?” Ashlyn asked, looking at all of the faces around her for feedback. “She won’t think it’s lame?”

“I think she will love it” Lily smiled as she thought about it. “I would love it.”

“Worst case scenario, she’ll think it’s funny” Ali shrugged and then smiled some more as she watched her wife try to decide what to do. 

Ali loved how much her wife still cared about what the kids thought of her and how much she still tried to show them a good time and impress them. The keeper tried, harder than she liked to admit, to be a cool mom. Both moms loved making their kids happy and giving them what they wanted as often as possible. But they were also both still wary of raising spoiled brats so they called each other out when one of them went too far or did too much too easily. It had been Ali’s struggle at the very beginning but she had changed her ways and learned to make the kids work for the things they really wanted instead of just bringing something home with her from work on a whim. It had been a difficult adjustment for the brunette, but she had done it with a lot of help from her wife. Ashlyn had always been sensitive to spoiling their kids because she had grown up with so little herself. Her stance hadn’t changed over the years, but even she occasionally slipped and went overboard on the kids. 

The Kriegers now had money, lots of money. They weren’t millionaires or super rich, but Ali earned a very good salary from K-H and Ashlyn earned a lot of money every time she expertly commentated on women’s soccer for one of the networks. The keeper was also now earning a very good salary from K-H and a very modest one from the Mental Health Initiative. She donated the MHI pay back to the organization and probably always would. The real money came in enormous chunks from Ashlyn’s endorsement deals. The Kriegers socked those payments away in the bank, never sure when the next one would arrive and not wanting to start counting on them for their real-life expenses and budget. The truth was that Ashlyn’s endorsements could all go away in the blink of an eye. Both women knew it and planned for it. Their financial decisions were made based on the steady income from their salaries at K-H and that was about it. Any money from Ashlyn’s clothing company went back into that business as it was still getting established and finding its footing. The Academy was turning a profit but Whitney and Ashlyn insisted on paying the visiting coaches and staff and making improvements to the camp instead of taking any money themselves. That decision was one of the main reasons The Academy was so successful and well-regarded in the soccer community.

Ashlyn took that same attitude and applied it to her new position as part-owner of the Boston Breakers too. She was constantly the one who pushed for re-investment and improvements in every facet of the organization. She pushed for better conditions for front office staff as well as the players and coaches. One of her biggest achievements in her short tenure as owner had been to improve and expand the medical staff and facility for the Breakers. Boston was ripe with high-quality medical facilities and some of the best doctors in the entire country, but she wanted to be able to provide in-house diagnostic equipment for some of the most common injuries that soccer players suffered. She relied on Dom Dwyer for some excellent information and sound advice after doing her own research into the topic. Dom had worked his way up to become the director of the entire training staff that took care of both the Revs and the Breakers and he was wonderful at his job. Ashlyn loved being able to count on his expertise for situations just like the diagnostic equipment debate that had taken place among the board members and owners.

Ali and Ashlyn Krieger were wealthy and they had worked hard for their success and money. But they weren’t extravagant. They weren’t filthy rich like Hannah was now after her divorce from Dev. They still had to work for their money and plan carefully. All of their financial decisions came from the same place that Ashlyn’s had always come from. She never wanted to show off their money and hated when other people did that. It used to be her biggest complaint about Dev when Hannah had been married to him. The keeper hated all of that flashy crap and vowed never to fall into that habit. The endorsement checks were earmarked for college costs for four children and those rose astronomically every year it seemed. It was hard to predict just how expensive college would be by the time Drew was ready, forget about the twins four years after that.

Ashlyn still drove a Jeep, a tricked-out Jeep but still a Jeep, big enough for her whole family. Ali still drove the Suburu minivan. The things they splurged on were vacations and trips with and without the kids. They both liked nice hotels and amenities when they travelled and that wasn’t going to change any time soon. They also spent money on anything the kids needed to help them improve at school or in whatever hobby they truly loved. Josie’s private piano lessons and Drew’s child psychologist were perfect examples of this kind of expenditure. They knew they’d be spending money on Dodge’s soccer once he got old enough to join a travel team and play in tournaments and things like that – which wasn’t too far in the future either. And whatever Lily ever settled on would get invested in as well, but nobody really had any idea what that might be yet. 

One of the most important things Ali and Ashlyn did was teach their children how lucky they were to have the money they had. The lesson Lily learned the first time she got to bring a can of food into school for her first can drive hadn’t changed, it had only been amplified. The people who had more were always supposed to help the people who had less. That had been ingrained into each Krieger child from the get go, right along with the other elements of what it meant to be a Krieger – you always try your hardest, you never quit, you take care of each other, your teammates, your siblings, you always hustle after every loose ball no matter the sport or the score or the time remaining, you be kind to everyone no matter who they are or what they look like, and you always remember that you represent the whole family, not just yourself. There had been many conversations over the past few years about why a classmate wore the same sneakers every day, all year long. Or why a teammate’s mom didn’t bring very good snacks to the soccer game when it was their turn. Or why some kids got picked up after school in dilapidated old junker cars.

One of Ashlyn and Ali’s proudest moments as parents came in January when the school called to tell them that their lunch money account was empty and needed to be filled again. The Kriegers had always made lunches for their kids to bring to school, even Drew in middle school still brought his lunch. At first it had been done out of necessity because both Drew and Lily were such fussy eaters that there was no way anything on the school lunch menu would have passed muster. Then it turned into a habit that all 6 of them enjoyed. You didn’t get a cute little note from your mom or your mama in the school lunch. And there was no way to guarantee the quality of the snacks unless you knew you were getting the good stuff from home.

“What do you mean it’s empty?” Ali frowned into the phone from her desk at Knight-Harris one afternoon as she spoke with the assistant principal of the elementary school. “Our kids bring their lunches every day. That account is just for emergencies. There should be plenty of money still in it.”

Many schools offered an account system like East Gloucester Elementary did and it had been a big help in curbing the bullying and outright theft of kids carrying lunch money in their pockets to school every day. Instead, every kid had access to an account that their parents put money into weekly, monthly or yearly and that they used to buy their lunch each day. Ali and Ashlyn had decided to fill their account yearly, just in case one of their kids forgot their lunch or dropped their lunch on their way into school or couldn’t find their lunch when it was time to eat it. Dodge had a habit of misplacing his insulated lunch bag and no-one was sure what the hell he was doing with it. Josie had finally told her parents that her younger brother often used his lunch bag as a ball and tossed it around among his friends as they walked into school or even to lunch. When necessary, any of the Krieger kids could buy their lunch from their school lunch account. It wasn’t until later in the week that the two moms figured out what had been happening with that account.

“Jojo uses it mostly, I think” Dodge explained two days later as he helped his moms put the groceries away in the kitchen. It had always been one of his favorite chores because he was allowed to toss things to either of his mothers as long as he was careful not to hurt anybody or damage any of the groceries. He launched a can of soup towards Ashlyn who was standing in the pantry waiting to receive it. “But sometimes I do...”

“When you lose your lunch bag?” Ali clarified from her place at the counter, unpacking and separating out the items Dodge could toss to Ashlyn.

“Yeah” the boy nodded and then laughed when his Mama bobbled the can of soup before catching it right before it hit the floor. “Nice save Mama!”

“That’s right it was” the keeper hammed it up and grinned back at her playful 8-1/2 year old boy.

“When does Josie use it?” Ali couldn’t imagine her organized daughter losing her lunch or forgetting it. “She never forgets her stuff.”

“No, she doesn’t forget it” he shook his head as he reached over for the next item to toss. The familiar look of concentration on his face when he was thinking hard or trying to get some details right to answer a question was on full display. It was also the same look he got on his face when he was playing goalkeeper or when he was about to take a free throw or a penalty kick. “She, like...” he paused, unsure of which words to use. “She lets other kids have it.”

“Other kids take her lunch from her?” Ashlyn took a step out of the pantry and almost got hit with a box of pasta because she was distracted by Dodge’s last comment.

“Mama!” he yelled when he saw what was about to happen.

“Be careful Dodger” Ali’s voice was stern, having just caught the end of what had almost been a painful box of pasta to Ashlyn’s face. “That’s enough of that.”

“That one’s on me” Ashlyn admitted sheepishly. “I took my eye off of it. Not his fault” she gave her wife a contrite half-smile. 

Ali frowned, but it was more because she was concerned about what Dodge had just told them than it was because of the pantry passing game.

“Finish telling us about Josie’s lunch, please” the brunette got back to work on the next bag, trying to be patient.

“Do other kids take her lunch from her?” Ashlyn asked again. “I thought it was better now that Franny Higgins was in middle school this year. Is someone else bothering her at school?”

“No” Dodge shook his head and sighed. “Nobody takes it from her. She lets kids have it” he shrugged and tossed a big bag of raw almonds.

“What kids though? Who wants her lunch?” Ali asked, trying to imagine a likely scenario. “Do you mean she trades her lunch with other kids?” she continued, wondering if Josie was supposed to be using another kid’s lunch account in a swapping scenario.

“No” Dodge sighed heavily and rolled his eyes in exasperation. His moms were just not getting it. “She just lets them have it. The kids who don’t have any lunch.”

“Oh” Ali glanced at her wife, happy to see she had the same surprised but not unhappy look on her face. “Ok then.”

As was typical with most kids, Josie didn’t think about her lunch as a dollar amount. All four kids knew about the lunch account and knew they could use it if they needed to. In Josie’s mind, she had two lunches and a couple of other kids didn’t have any. So it became a simple exercise in sharing. The redhead was an easy eater so she didn’t mind eating the school lunch so there was really no drawback. After talking with Josie that night, the two moms learned that their daughter had been giving her lunch away almost every day through most of the Fall. The lunch account budget at the elementary school had been set up as a yearly thing for the Kriegers, with enough in it to feed 3 kids twice a week for the 10 months of the school year. Josie had blown through it by herself in less than 5 months.

“Did I do something wrong?” she asked, worried that she had gotten herself in trouble somehow.

“No little one, you didn’t do anything wrong” Ashlyn reassured her as the two moms sat on her bed with her that night at bedtime. “Not at all honey” the keeper beamed down at Josie.

“We just wish you had told us what was going on, that’s all” Ali offered, patting her daughter’s legs through the covers. “That’s all.”

“You know how we’re always asking you how school was and if anything interesting happened at school today?” Ashlyn picked up the talk. “Well, this is exactly what we mean. This is the kind of thing we’d like to know about.”

“You can tell us anything about your day, anytime, of course” the brunette clarified for their structure-loving daughter. “We like to hear about as much of it as we can because we love you and we miss seeing you all day and we like to know what your days are like. Does that make sense?”

“Mmm Hmmm” Josie nodded thoughtfully. “So I’m not in trouble?”

“No sweetheart, you’re not in trouble” Ali replied softly. “Why, did you do something else that we should know about or that you’re worried about?”

“No” the girl shook her head and blinked from one mom to the other. “Do I have to stop giving Bailey and Corey my lunch?”

“No honey, you don’t” Ashlyn replied. 

She knew who those kids were and she was upset with herself for not thinking of something like this sooner. Bailey was a girl who had helped her with the set painting for the December play because she couldn’t be in the play without the right costume basics. Her family couldn’t afford to buy her what she needed. It had broken the keeper’s heart at the time but Bailey seemed happy and well-adjusted so she didn’t feel like she needed to take it any further. Corey was a boy Ali had told her about after soccer practice in the Fall. The brunette had seen him struggling with his cleats over on the empty field while he waited for his mom to come pick him up on her way home from work. He often spent two extra hours at the soccer fields after his own practice ended because his mom couldn’t take time off to drive him around in the afternoons. Ali had told Ashlyn how this 5th grade boy was stuffing paper towels from the school bathroom into the toes of his cleats to get them to stay on his feet. They were his older brother’s old cleats that Corey hadn’t quite grown into yet. 

“Is it just those two kids who don’t have lunch of their own at school?” the keeper asked.

“Yeah, in my grade. They took turns back when school started, but now they just share it” she shrugged.

“That’s a good plan” Ali smiled and nodded. After a short pause and a quick look at her wife she continued. “We’re really proud of you for sharing your lunch like that Jose. You’re a good girl.”

“That’s exactly what we mean when we tell you guys to be kind to other kids and other people” Ashlyn added with another proud smile.

“What made you think to do that, little one?” Ali asked.

Josie thought for a few seconds and then explained as best she could, repeating one of the basic lessons her parents had been preaching her entire life.

“People who have more are supposed to help the people who have less” she shrugged again, “and I have more lunch than them.”

//

Debbie Christopher was trying her hardest to take her cousin Diana’s advice about getting on with living her life instead of dwelling on her beloved cousin’s death. It had been just over 2 months since Diana’s funeral and Deb was still struggling with her grief and her anger and her fear for herself and her own daughter’s future in the shadow of ovarian cancer. Mike Christopher had been better than anybody expected, picking his sad wife’s spirits up whenever she needed his help. They spent most of that winter in Miami, golfing and spending time with friends and travelling to nearby places for weekend getaways. Both Ali and Kyle kept pretty close tabs on their mother after Diana’s death because they knew it had hit her hard. Kyle and Nathan were planning to spend the February vacation week in Miami, bringing Deb’s grandkids right to her for the whole week. Ali was surprised to see her mother sitting in her kitchen when she got home from work on Friday, January 23rd.

“Mom!” she yelped, happy and shocked, as she bent down and gave her mother a big hug from behind the two-person table chair in the middle of the room. “What are you doing here? Is Mike here too?”

“Yes, he’s in the living room with the kids” Deb chuckled and held onto her daughter’s hand as they grinned at each other. “We just decided to come up for the weekend. It was really last-minute. I hope it’s ok...”

“Of course it’s ok” Ali beamed and gave her mother another big hug. “It’s better than ok” she giggled and pulled back to get a look at Deb, who would be turning 72 in July that year. “Do you have plans or something?” Ali started to frown and wonder what was up. “Wait, is somebody sick?”

“Everything’s fine, baby” Ashlyn reassured her wife from the stove where she was stirring something that smelled delicious. “I already quizzed her. Believe me.”

“Hi honey” Ali crossed the four feet between the chair with her mother in it and her beautiful wife. She wrapped her arms around Ashlyn from behind, stood on her tiptoes and kissed her cheek, loving the way the keeper patted her thigh with her free hand and turned into the kiss. “Love you.”

“Love you too” Ashlyn patted her thigh again and smiled as the brunette took a step back to see what she was cooking. “She’s finally teaching me how to make Nonni’s chicken soup!”

“Wow” Ali’s eyes went wide as she turned her attention back to her mother. “For real?”

“Yes” Deb nodded. “It’s time. Nate is next” she laughed. “We’re going there for a few days on our way back to Miami next week.”

It took until Sunday afternoon before Ali got the truth out of her mother. Saturday had been spent with the kids’ youth basketball league starting up, as well as Meg coming back from DC for classes starting on Monday. Something was up and Ali had been more curious than nervous about it since Friday evening. But she couldn’t stand it anymore and was prepared to grill her mother and stepfather until they fessed up that Sunday. Luckily, Deb had something else in mind and beat her daughter to the punch.

“I knew something was going on” Ali shook her head knowingly at her mother as she sat down at the nook table with a cup of tea, joining Ashlyn, Meg, and Deb who each had a cup of their own. “You’re finally ready to tell me?”

“Yes Alex, I’m finally ready” Deb’s smile was a mixture of love and sadness and Ali felt bad for giving her a hard time. “Thanks for waiting, especially you Meg” Deb side-hugged the young woman next to her who would be turning 20 in about 6 weeks. “I know you have things to do back at the dorm...”

“Nah, I’m good” Meg hugged her back as Ashlyn and Ali exchanged a quick, nervous glance.

“Diana left you something in her will” Deb nodded at her daughter, directly across the table from her. “And you” she nodded at Ashlyn sitting next to the brunette. “You too” she squeezed Meg one more time before using both hands to open a small, cardboard jewelry box on the table in front of them.

“What?” Ali asked what they were all wondering, the three youngest women looking at each other anxiously.

“I haven’t been holding out on you for two months” Deb chuckled but it was hard to tell what kind of mood she was in. It was impossible to read her right at that moment. “Eliza just called me last week...”

“And you went to see them in Virginia and that’s why you decided to come up and surprise us” Ali nodded, finally understanding the odd timing of the trip.

“Yes” Deb confirmed, her voice softening as she struggled with her emotions.

“It was your first visit to Lovingston since the funeral, huh?” Ashlyn stretched a long arm out to give her mother-in-law’s hand a soft squeeze.

“Yes” she nodded but didn’t say anything for a minute as she fought to keep her emotions in control.

“I would have come with you Mom...”

“I know” Deb smiled at her kind-hearted daughter. “I know. But I wanted to do it myself. Well, I made Mike come with me” she smiled.

“Good” Meg put her arm around Deb’s shoulders and gave her another side-hug. “I wish you had told me though. I would have gone with you. I was down there already...”

“It’s ok sweetie. Really” Deb looked at all three concerned faces. “It was something I needed to do and I did it and I’m ok. Well, I will be.”

Ali got up and brought back a box of tissues and they all laughed.

“I should have opened a bottle of wine instead of making tea” the brunette joked.

“You still can” Ashlyn teased back but the brunette knew she was serious.

“This is the good stuff though, I promise” Deb cleared her throat and sat up a bit straighter. “She left a letter, she left a couple of letters actually, but this one is for the four of us.”

Deb took a deep breath and started to read the words, her voice halted and constricted. Ali finally reached across the table and took her mother’s hand, squeezing until their eyes met.

“Do you want me to?” the brunette asked gently, taking the 2-page letter after Deb nodded her approval and thanks.

“How about I read this time?” Ashlyn asked, knowing how hard it had been for her wife to speak for Deb at Diana’s funeral service in November. “I’d really like to do it, if it’s ok?” she looked from Ali to Deb and then took the letter in her own two hands.

She began to read, her clear high voice moving carefully over the words, trying not to go too fast or to make any mistakes. Even though she hadn’t known Diana very well, it was easy to hear the woman’s voice in the rhythm of the words.

‘Deb, Alex, Ashlyn & Meg,

Hello my darlings! Oh how I wish I was sitting with you right now, some of my favorite women in the whole wide world. But I’m grateful I got to meet you Ashlyn and Meg, even though it was only one time. I feel like I’ve known you all these years, through the stories Deb told me and the laughter and tears we shared over the events in your beautiful lives.’

The letter went on for a few paragraphs about some of Diana’s favorite stories about the three younger women at the nook table. Then Diana dove into the Scaglione family history and family tree that was pertinent to the real reason for writing the letter.

‘My mother and Deb’s mother were the only two daughters of the five children our grandmother had. My mother Josefina was the oldest girl and, when our grandmother died, Josefina inherited all of her jewelry. Some of grandma’s jewelry went back four generations, back to the early 1800’s. Deb’s mom, Anna Maria, your grandmother – Alex, didn’t get any of it, which was a real shame. I don’t know who makes these stupid rules up but my sister Maria and I gave Deb some of Grandma’s jewelry after our mom, Josefina, died and it was passed down to us...’

“They did” Deb interrupted with a nod. “They let me pick out a few pieces. It was very kind and thoughtful of them.”

Ashlyn gave her mother-in-law a warm smile before reading more of the letter.

‘When my sister Maria died 7 years ago I made sure I got some more of our grandmother’s jewelry. It shouldn’t have been such an ordeal, but Maria’s kids aren’t as easy to deal with as mine are – or you are. It’s embarrassing to admit, but my niece Louise and nephews were greedy and petty and difficult about everything having to do with their mother’s estate after her death. It still makes me angry when I think about it. But this is not the time to dwell on that. The point is that I’m giving you each a piece of Grandma Scaglione’s jewelry. A family heirloom for each of you to keep or to pass on to your own daughters someday.

Meg – I’m giving you Grandma’s emerald ring. I know it’s not your birthstone, but I think that gorgeous green gem will look stunning with your beautiful red hair. It’s not as pretty a green as your eyes, but I hope you like it. 

Ashlyn – none of grandma’s jewelry is your style, ha ha. Sorry. But I know you have a great appreciation and respect for the past and for family histories so I think the Scaglione crest medallion will suit you nicely. 

Alex – I feel like you’re my own daughter after sharing so many stories with your mother over the years. I love you honey and I wish we could have spent more time together. But no regrets. No guilt. One of my most cherished memories is the weekend you brought your family to our house. Both Sal and I talked and laughed about that weekend often. Many people say you’re just like your mother, which is a high compliment in my book. I understand why they feel that way and I see many similarities between you and my sweet cousin. But I have always been struck by how different you are from your mom. You’re quieter and more reserved. It’s hard to describe for some reason, but it has always felt to me like you let the people around you shine brightest. The brighter they shine, the happier you are. I want you to shine bright too my darling. That’s why I’m giving you my grandmother’s diamond brooch. It was one of her favorites and she wore it every time she had the chance to get all dolled up.

Deb – the Lucy to my Ethel, the person who made me laugh the loudest and the longest, right up to the very end. Thank you for your sisterhood, your friendship, your love, your devotion, your heart. You made my life fuller and more complete than I thought was possible. There are so many wonderful memories of time spent with you but none compares to our trip to Italy. Truly life-altering. You already have some of Grandma’s jewelry so I want you to have this bejeweled, silver letter opener. Yes, THAT bejeweled, silver letter opener. The famous one from family lore that our great great great grandmother defended herself with against one of Garibaldi’s rebels during the risorgimento...’

Deb interrupted again, laughing as she spoke the last line at the same time Ashlyn read it. Every Scaglione knew the story. It had been embellished over the decades and the number and size of the rebels who tried to steal from great great great grandmother Scaglione’s house in Sicily fluctuated. But the core of it remained constant. A rebel broke into the house to steal whatever he could find and Deb’s ancestor had stabbed him in the neck with the fancy letter opener, chasing him away. Ali, Ashlyn and Meg all shared a stunned look as Deb laughed some more.

“We come from spunky stock” the older woman shrugged and grinned. “What can I say?”

After another minute, Ashlyn continued reading.

‘These gifts are yours now ladies. It gives me great happiness to leave them for you. Please don’t worry about my girls or their children – there is enough jewelry to go around, I promise you. Both Georgia and Eliza helped me pick these out for you and they agree that you should have them forever. The only thing we ask is that if you don’t want them anymore, for whatever reason, please try and get them back to us instead of selling them. We’d like to try and keep them in the family for four more generations at least!

Finally, I just want to tell you to keep living your beautiful lives. This goes for all of you. Don’t start dying instead of living. Don’t carry your grief for too long. Don’t forget to make each other happy as often as you can. I love you my darlings!

For eternity,  
Diana’

They were all quiet for a minute, collecting their thoughts and letting Diana’s words settle around them. Finally, Deb lifted the cover off of the plain white cardboard box in front of her and the three others leaned closer and peered inside. The emerald ring, the Scaglione crest medallion, the diamond brooch, and the bejeweled letter opener were all distributed and admired for the next ten minutes. Ali noticed that the sad look on her mother’s face had turned into a wistful one and the brunette reached over and took her hand again.

“So, you teaching Ash and Nate Nonni’s chicken soup recipe is supposed to be some kind of sign or something? Is there something you’re not telling me mom?”

Ashlyn and Meg exchanged an anxious look, neither of them having put it together yet. The keeper kicked herself for not realizing the importance of the family recipe before this moment. She knew Deb didn’t pass it out to people but Ashlyn really didn’t appreciate the enormity of the gift she had been given the other evening at the stove.

“Holy shit Deb” the keeper’s voice was thin and her eyes were wide.

“Oh just relax” Deb clucked. “I’m fine. Nothing’s going on except I just felt like it was time to teach the next generation how to make Nonni’s chicken soup. That’s it” she quirked her eyebrow at her daughter first, but then passed it around to Ashlyn and Meg too.

Ali studied her mother’s face carefully, waiting for the rest of the story, knowing there was more to it. Meg and Ashlyn watched, patiently and quietly. Deb finally caved, sighing and chuckling under her breath.

“Oh Alex, fine” she shook her head but still had a small smile on her face as she spoke. “There’s nothing wrong. That’s the truth. But, yeah, ok...maybe losing Diana and having her pass down our grandmother’s jewelry got me thinking.”

“About what?”

“About what I have to pass down” Deb moved her free hand over to pat Meg’s arm and smiled warmly when the redhead took it in her own.

The relief in the room was palpable and it was only then that Ashlyn understood just how frightened her wife had been about Deb’s little charade. She scooted closer to Ali and put her arm across her lap, grabbing her farthest leg and pulling her in tight. She left her arm there, protectively.

“I realize now that my grandmother, your great-grandmother” Deb nodded at Ali, “knew that my mom wasn’t going to get the family heirlooms. The boys would get everything that was worth anything, except for her jewelry of course. But that always went to the oldest girl, which left my mom out again.”

“The recipes” Ali whispered as it dawned on her. “Grandma’s recipes, your mom’s recipes!”

“That’s right” Deb nodded and grinned. “Aunt Josefina hated to cook but my mom loved it. I’ll never know if my grandma had something to do with that or not...”

“What, like you think she gave Aunt Josefina the crappy cooking chores and your mom the good ones?” Meg tilted her head, trying to follow Deb’s logic.

“Maybe” the older woman shrugged as her eyes sparkled, making them all laugh. “We’ll never know. But what I do know is that all of the family recipes were kept in a homemade wooden recipe box in my grandmother’s kitchen as long as I can remember. My mom and I spent almost all of our time with her in that kitchen. We were always making something or prepping something so we could make it the next day. When my mom died and Gene and I cleaned out her house, that’s my brother” she directed at Meg and Ashlyn in case they were lost in the Scaglione family tree somewhere. “We found the box and I took it. Gene didn’t want it” Deb chuckled. “He was a better cook than most men I knew but he didn’t want much from the family, even at the end...”

Ali squeezed her mother’s hand again, sharing her sadness over poor Uncle Gene’s cold treatment at the hands of his own family.

“Anyway, when I finally got around to looking at the recipes, I saw that my mom had translated them all into English so I could read them” Deb’s voice shook a bit as her emotions caught up to her. “She spent Lord knows how many hours writing them all down for me, by hand, knowing that I’d never be able to read all of the Italian.”

“Aw, mom...you’re gonna make me cry” Ali wiped at her eye and laughed softly.

“Is that what’s in that wooden box in your kitchen, at the condo?” Ashlyn asked after another small pause.

“It is” Deb nodded.

“It used to be in our kitchen at home, in Ipswich...” Ali added. “But I never bothered to look into it.”

“Well, why would you?” Deb chuckled. “Old family recipe boxes aren’t what kids are interested in sweetie. Don’t feel bad.”

“So Diana’s side of the family got the jewelry, but your side got the recipes” Meg thought out loud, processing the development as she checked out the beautiful emerald ring in her hand. 

“OUR side Meg” Deb corrected her with a loving smile. “Our side got the recipes and it’s my job to make sure someone learns how to pass them down next time.”

“Well, Ali and Nate are the cooks in the family, that’s for sure” Ashlyn commented and then spoke seriously. “But I appreciate you teaching me how to make Nonni’s chicken soup Deb. Really. It means a lot.”

“There’s lots of time for me to teach all of you how to make it, or whoever wants to learn I guess” she shrugged. “I’m not planning on dying anytime soon so we have lots of time.”

“I can’t wait to learn every single one” Ali smiled, still getting herself under control and wiping away another tear before it could fall. “Every single one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the welcome back messages! I love sharing this story with you guys. Thank YOU! <3


	3. MPS I, New Life, and an Anniversary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to check out the Tumblr blog dedicated to this story if you're interested. I post pictures, and family tree charts, and house diagrams and floor plans, etc. of lots of things happening in the story. Beware of spoilers if you're not caught up and current on the story though.  
> Search 'beautyinthemoonlight1124' if you want to take a look.

“Mommy and Daddy took Tommy to his special doctor again” Becca explained from the back seat of Ali’s minivan as the two drove from the Lincoln Elementary school in the center of Winchester, MA up to Gloucester. 

“That’s right” Ali smiled and stole a quick glance in the dashboard camera to see if the first grader was upset or bothered by her current situation. “So I get to pick up my Becca bug and have fun with you this afternoon. Lucky lucky me!” the brunette enthused.

“Yay!!” the adorable 6-year old girl grinned as she stuffed some organic gummy chews into her mouth and kicked her feet out in excitement.

Ali felt her throat catch and blinked back a couple of tears, willing herself to hold it together in front of Becca, she and Ashlyn’s only goddaughter. Her only job that afternoon was to pick Becca up from school and entertain her back at the big old house. It was the second week of February and Whitney and Ryan had taken Tommy to his second enzyme replacement therapy treatment at The Children’s Hospital in Boston that day. Things had progressed quickly after Whitney confided in Ashlyn before her ‘surprise’ birthday party at the end of November. The countless doctor’s appointments and dozens of meetings with different pediatric specialists had finally gotten them a confirmed diagnosis by mid-December.

“Mucopolysaccharidosis, Type I” Whitney had enunciated carefully from her Knight-Harris office back in December. “MPS I for short.”

Neither Ali nor Ashlyn moved a muscle or blinked as they stared back at their friend, waiting for more information. The brunette didn’t even write the word down, pen poised above the notepad in front of her as she focused intently on Whitney’s face and nothing else.

“In a nutshell, he was born without an enzyme that we all have and need, that breaks down certain kinds of sugar molecules” the lawyer continued. “So that’s what the problem is” she sighed sadly, even though she looked relieved.

“So what happens if those sugar molecules don’t get broken down?” Ali asked, quickly writing on her notepad. “Is that why he’s been so sick all the time?”

“Yes, basically” Whitney nodded and slid a brochure across her desk to the two women whom she knew would read every word in it several times before the work day was over. “There are lots of different types of MPS, with different levels of severity. And the symptoms all present totally different so that’s why it’s so hard to diagnose. The good news is that we got really lucky” she stopped short as the next words got caught in her throat and she fought the tears threatening to fall. “His is the least severe type, they call it ‘attenuated MPS I’” she sniffled and took a couple of deep breaths.

Ashlyn got up and gave her a hug, the lawyer still in her desk chair trying to settle herself. The keeper released her after Whitney patted her arm a couple of times, but she didn’t go very far. She sat on her best friend’s desk and held her hand for the rest of the time they talked.

“What do we do about it?” Ashlyn asked, eager to get started on the solution.

Whitney spent another 10 minutes talking them through the potential treatment options until all of their heads were spinning from information overload.

“The next step is to figure out which treatment option will be best for him, for his specific version of it. Hopefully we can get that nailed down in January and then he can start whatever the treatment is in February.”

“Jesus Whit” Ali’s eyes were wide as she looked up from the brochure.

“Terrifying, isn’t it?” 

“Oh my God” Ali shook her head as her face filled with concern for sweet little Tommy Flanagan. “No wonder he didn’t feel good. Look at all the ways this thing can affect his body” she turned the brochure around for her wife to be able to read and then kept talking. “Poor little guy. All his life he’s been suffering.”

“4-1/2 years he’s had this disease and we didn’t even know it...” Whitney dropped her eyes and Ashlyn snapped her head up from the brochure and spoke harshly, even as her words sounded clipped and emotional.

“You listen to me Whitney Elizabeth Engen Flanagan. This is some scary shit and my heart is breaking for you guys. But there’s no fucking way I’m gonna let you even think about blaming yourself for any of this. Do you hear me?”

The lawyer nodded and she gave Ashlyn’s hand a squeeze but it wasn’t enough for the keeper.

“I mean it Whit. I’ll never ever forgive you if you torture yourself with this. Not ever. This could have happened to any one of us and if it was us in this position you’d be telling me this exact same thing. You know it. You guys did the very best anybody could do for your son. You went above and beyond to get this figured out. There’s not one thing anybody else could have done better to help Tommy. Not one fucking thing. You and Ryan...you’re the best parents in the world and Becca and Tommy are lucky as hell to have you.”

“I know what you’re trying to do and I...I love you for it” Whitney smiled up into the keeper’s face. “But it is our fault. We gave it to him.”

“What?” Ali’s brow furrowed and she leaned further onto the front of the desk.

“Whit...” Ashlyn’s voice was almost threatening.

“It’s a genetic mutation. Both Ryan and I have the gene, but it’s recessive. There’s a 1 in 4 chance that our kids, any of our kids, could get that recessive gene from both of us and develop MPS I” she explained, a forlorn look filling her face.

“Becca...” the keeper asked immediately.

“She’s fine. We checked, right away. As soon as we found out.”

“Then I don’t take any of it back” Ashlyn set her jaw and stared at her bestie. “None of us can know about our recessive genes. That’s crazy” she frowned. “And that’s the last I want to hear about you and Ryan blaming yourselves. Understood?”

Ali thought about that conversation in Whitney’s office as she pulled into the driveway of the big old house at 3pm that Wednesday afternoon. The timetable had been as the lawyer predicted. By the end of January, Tommy’s doctors and the Flanagans had agreed on the best course of treatment for the boy, based on the way his body had reacted to the missing enzyme. The symptoms of MPS I ran the gamut but Tommy’s had always centered on his lungs and his legs. It was clear that he wasn’t breathing well and that his legs were becoming less steady instead of more reliable as he grew. There was no cure for MPS. The enzyme replacement therapy treatment was the best choice because, if Tommy’s body accepted it well, then he would be getting the enzyme that he needed and that would stop the rest of the damage being caused in his body. There was no way to undo the damage to his lungs and his heart and the joints in his legs, but if the ERT treatment was successful then the damage would be stopped from continuing. 

They had to take Tommy every Wednesday for his ERT treatment. Ryan and Whitney both went with him and did their best to make him comfortable and keep him entertained while the medicine was administered through an IV in his arm. The treatment took 3 – 4 hours and then Tommy had to be observed for another 3 hours afterwards, just in case some of the severe side effects presented themselves. The doctors explained that if everything went well and Tommy tolerated the ERT that the observation time would decrease over time and eventually not be required at all. But in the beginning, when everything was new, they needed the boy to stay in the hospital for a total of 6 – 7 hours. The biggest concern was that Tommy would go into anaphylactic shock and not make it to an ER quickly enough to survive. So, the Flanagans stayed at the hospital treatment center for as long as the doctors told them to.

All of the four-family friends had offered to help in any way that they could, but Whitney and Ryan wanted to try and keep their routines as normal as they could for as long as they could. They didn’t even want Ashlyn and Ali to help at first. But Ali had laid out some very pragmatic reasons why it made sense to let them help with Becca so both Flanagans could focus on Tommy and themselves once a week. 

“Whatever you need us to do, we’ll do” Ali had reasoned with the lawyer towards the end of January. “We can bring her home with us for a sleepover and take her to school the next morning. We can bring her home with us for the afternoon and dinner and then bring her back to you for the night. One of us can pick her up from school and take her back to your house until you guys get home from the hospital if that’s what you want. We don’t care. You tell us what to do on the day of and that’s what we’ll do. You can change your mind halfway through the damned day if you need to – we’ll be there. It’s not a bother. It’s not inconvenient. It’s not an imposition. And if you ever start to doubt it, just put yourself in our position and imagine what you’d do if we were taking one of our kids in for ERT.”

There had been nothing left for Whitney to debate after that and Wednesdays with Becca had commenced at the beginning of February. No-one was sure exactly how the busy summer schedules would work out, but they all knew they would make it work. Tommy’s MPS I was the scariest thing that had happened in the four-family world since Sydney had miscarried and Ali had almost died delivering Josie. A sick kid was every parent’s worst nightmare and all 6 of the other four-family parents had cried over Tommy and his diagnosis, more than once. He was the baby of the group and held a special place in everybody’s heart. 

That second Wednesday in February, with Becca tucked into the kid-size air mattress on the floor of Lily’s room, Ali and Ashlyn lay in their own bed with busy minds and aching hearts.

“Whit said he has a fever again this time, and the rash” Ashlyn recapped her texting with the lawyer just before they had gotten into bed.

“Yeah, but no headache, right? That’s a good thing this time” Ali tried to stay as optimistic as possible.

“Right” Ashlyn agreed and tried to get settled but was too antsy to lie still for very long. “Maybe next week he won’t get a rash or a fever. That would be good too.”

“Where do you want me?” Ali pulled back when it was obvious her wife was incapable of staying in one position for more than a minute. “Do you need some space tonight babe?”

“No” Ashlyn turned anxious eyes towards her wife. “I need you. I’m sorry...”

“Don’t be sorry love” Ali leaned over and pressed a soft kiss into her cheek. “It’s ok if you need...”

“I need you. Now please come back over here” Ashlyn lifted the covers up that she had already gotten tangled. She let Ali fix them and then curl up into her side. “Hold me tight, ok?” the keeper asked in a small voice as they got back into what was usually a favorite sleeping position for both of them.

“All night honey. I’ll be right here.” 

They lay there for another long 10 minutes and the brunette could feel her wife’s heart racing inside her chest.

“Can we talk about some of the good things?” Ali asked softly. “I think it’ll help me stop worrying so much and maybe fall asleep.”

“Always” Ashlyn hugged her wife into her side and kissed her head. “It’s really fun having Becca here tonight.”

“Oooh, the best” Ali smiled and felt her spirits lift automatically. “How cute is she, wanting to sleep with Lily instead of Josie?”

“Yeah” Ashlyn chuckled. “She’s always had a thing for Lily.”

“Lily’s always been good to her. Kids aren’t dumb. They know who the nice ones are” Ali chuckled too.

“Are you saying Josie’s not nice?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying at all” Ali clarified with a poke to her wife’s side. “You know what I mean. Lily has always gone out of her way to spend time with Becca and play with her...”

“Do you remember when she taught her to make snow angels?” Ashlyn’s face jumped into a dimple-bearing grin. “God that was cute.”

“That’s what I mean, wise ass” Ali poked the keeper again, but much softer.

“Yeah, yeah” Ashlyn held her wife’s wrist in her hand so the poking would stop. They were quiet for a minute, both thinking of good things about Tommy and his situation.

“This might sound like a bad thing, but I really mean it as a good thing” Ali prefaced her next statement. “If this ERT works then Tommy will live a mostly normal life with a normal life expectancy. I think that’s about as good as it gets.”

Ashlyn frowned as she considered her wife’s words. She was trying to stay positive but this one was a stretch for her.

“If you mean going and getting hooked up to an IV bag for 4 hours once a week for the rest of your life is normal, then yeah I guess.”

“Ash, so many kids with MPS don’t even have the option of treatment at all. As fucked up as it sounds, Tommy’s really lucky.”

“How can you say that? His knees and ankles and hips are always going to give him trouble. He’s always going to have crappy lungs and need an inhaler, or worse. He’s always going to have a heart that isn’t as strong as it should be. That all means he’ll never play sports. He probably won’t be able to do anything very physical...”

“Why are you focusing on the bad things? On the things he can’t do?” Ali got up on her elbow to look at her wife’s pained face in the dark. “He’ll be alive and able to go to school with other kids and have a life. If he had Severe MPS I instead of attenuated MPS I he wouldn’t live past the age of 10!” she accented her argument with a couple of arm flails, reminding her wife just how much she cared about this topic, even though it was 11:15pm and she was exhausted. “All I can think about is how lucky we are that he has the mildest form of MPS. I just feel like we won the lottery. Some kind of fucked up, disease of the week jackpot...”

“You’re right” Ashlyn cut off her rambling wife and pulled her back in for another embrace, mumbling words into her neck as she pulled Ali’s torso on top of her own, squeezing her tight. “God, you’re so right. Yeah this sucks, a lot. But it could be so much worse. Fuck. You’re right baby. Thank God, you’re right.”

“I just can’t even imagine losing one of them” Ali whispered after a couple of minutes in the embrace, words getting stuck in her throat. “I just...I thought the worst was Syd losing the baby. That was horrible. But to have them for 10 years and then lose them...” she sobbed once before pulling herself back from the brink of a full breakdown. “I think I’d die.”

//

As life often does, it provided beauty and growth as well as despair and decay. Nine days later, on Friday February 20th, 2032, Brianna and Koty Wild welcomed their first baby into the world. For all the struggles they had endured getting pregnant, Brianna had the fastest and easiest delivery of anybody in the whole extended family. After only four hours from the time her water broke to the time the ob/gyn told her to make her final push, Victoria June Wild burst onto the scene, changing their lives forever. It was poetic justice that the delivery had been so easy and anybody that knew Brianna’s story agreed that it was only fair. 

“These are your aunties and your uncle” Koty introduced his baby daughter to Ali, Ashlyn, Tanner and his fiancée Renee on Sunday afternoon, “some of them anyway.”

“The most important ones” Tanner grinned.

“That’s right” Ali laughed as Koty and Brianna rolled their eyes and joined in the laughter. “You’ll see” the brunette nodded.

“Anyway...” Koty shook his head as he turned to the side and tilted his daughter up in his arms so they could get a good look at her. “This is Tori and good luck prying her out of my arms.”

“He’s not kidding” Vicki smiled from her spot next to Ken on the cot in the corner of the room. “He’s barely put her down all weekend.”

“If only he could breastfeed...” Brianna quipped and they all laughed again.

“Well, good luck keeping this one from getting her hands on that little cutie” Ashlyn nodded in Ali’s direction. “She’s not gonna be patient for very much longer either.”

“I’m trying to be polite, but yeah, time’s almost up” Ali chuckled as her eyes lit up at the sight of the tiny pink baby girl.

“I get the Tori, it’s very sweet” Ashlyn winked at Vicki, the baby’s grandmother and namesake. “But is June a family name for you Bri?”

“No” Brianna gave her husband a knowing look and Ashlyn regretted bringing up Brianna’s troublesome, complicated family at all. “It came out of the blue really” she shrugged. “It took us so long to get pregnant, when we finally got the confirmation in June it sort of made sense to use it.”

“Yeah, we said if it was a girl we’d use June for her middle name, to celebrate how thrilled we were when we got the good news” Koty beamed at his daughter and then his wife.

“I love it” Vicki grinned from ear to ear and it was hard to say who was happier, she or Koty.

“I do too” Brianna added. “And I love you too honey, but you’ve gotta let Ali hold her before she hyperventilates.”

“To be clear, she means Ali will hyperventilate” Ken zinged from his quiet corner of the room, sitting back and taking everything in with a satisfied smile on his face. “Not the baby.”

“Thanks Dad” Ali rolled her eyes but couldn’t keep the smile from her face as Koty handed her little Tori.

“Anytime Princess.”

//

Perhaps the sweetest thing that happened in February was an unplanned, but not new, surprise for Ashlyn and Ali. Sunday, February 8th was the 16th anniversary of the day they finally admitted their feelings for each other. Their February anniversary. They had spent Saturday night celebrating in Boston with a fancy dinner and a swanky hotel while Ken and Vicki babysat the kids for them. Then, Sunday late morning as they finished checking out of the hotel, they both received a text from Meg telling them they weren’t allowed to come back home until dinner time. Neither Ken nor Vicki would cough up any details either, so Ali and Ashlyn enjoyed an afternoon together in the city and tried not to worry too much. They knew Meg could handle the kids but all four of them for an entire day? The only break she would have would be when Ken and Vicki took the twins up to their indoor soccer games in the early afternoon.

Date nights had been something that had taken a backseat during the past couple of years as Ali and Ashlyn worked their way through hurricane Emily. Date nights hadn’t disappeared altogether, but they hadn’t been routinely scheduled either. Both women had vowed to do better about date nights in 2032. The bare minimum would be one date night per month, but they both wanted to try for two. They thought squeezing in a night just for themselves, away from the house and kids, every other week would be challenging, but doable. And they both understood how important it was for their relationship. They had already come up short in January, only managing one date night around Ashlyn’s trip to DC and Deb and Mike’s visit. They were determined to hit their goal in February and strategized about starting early in the month and not trying to cram one or both into the final two weeks.

February was tense because of Tommy Flanagan’s new treatment schedule, but Ali and Ashlyn had splurged on their February anniversary night to help counteract all the anxiety they were both feeling. It was the very first weekend of the month and they had already achieved one date night, and a wonderful, luxurious one at that. The free day to themselves on Sunday seemed like the icing on the cake and they chose to enjoy it rather than stress too much about what would await them back at the big old house. They debated staying in the hotel room and enjoying some more sexy times, but they were already up and dressed and checked out of the room by the time Meg’s text came through. They stored their small suitcase with the hotel concierge and set out into the cold, grey day with giddy grins on their faces. After their steamy night and late morning they both felt like stretching their legs. It was a cold and bleak-looking day and they walked briskly through the public garden from their hotel to Newbury Street. Neither woman had dressed or packed for a winter day spent outside but they did the best they could with what they had. After a speedy tour of the upscale shops on Newbury Street, they stopped for lunch and watched the rest of the shoppers from their cozy table inside the large storefront windows on the street. 

“I love that they still close Newbury Street to traffic on Sundays” Ashlyn said as she leaned her chin in her hand and enjoyed the passersby outside.

“I know. I never thought it would last” the brunette chuckled. “But I’m glad it did. It feels so different down here without all the cars and trucks and cabs.”

“Which building did you do the windows in again?”

“Boom, that’s another demerit for you” Ali teased as she sipped her mimosa. “The one with ‘The Limited’ on the first floor, down near Arlington St.”

“Damn, that’s right” Ashlyn shook her head, disappointed that she couldn’t remember it. “Sure is a good-looking building” she grinned. As long as they had been together, the keeper still thought it was so cool that Ali could walk by a house, or an old brownstone building in this case, and have her work on display right there for all the world to see. “So cool” she nodded and looked out the window again, pausing for a few seconds. “Wait, another? How did I get more than one demerit today already?”

“The first was in the shower this morning” the brunette quirked her eyebrow. “All-star.”

“What? You sure seemed to enjoy that orgasm...”

“Shhh...” Ali hissed and giggled as she looked around to see if anybody had heard her wife’s candid reply. “Of course I did” she whispered, head bent close to her keeper’s. “But I told you’d I’d be sore afterwards and I can barely sit in this stupid chair right now...”

“Oooh, sorry baby” Ashlyn stole a quick kiss, loving their extended, intimate time together. 

She glanced at the hard, plastic chairs they were both sitting in and felt bad for her beautiful brunette. They had agreed to take a relaxing therapeutic shower after their sexy night together, but Ashlyn hadn’t been able to resist her wife’s wet, naked skin for very long. They had each enjoyed another orgasm before the keeper pushed Ali right into a second one almost before she had come down from the first. She knew her brunette was suffering the best kind of soreness, but it was still uncomfortable no matter how much fun you had pushing your body there. 

“Do you want to sit on my jacket? Will that help?”

“Nah, I’m ok” Ali blinked sweetly back at her considerate keeper. “Just being a baby. Thank you though honey” she gave Ashlyn a chaste kiss and squeezed her hand. “So sweet to me.”

“Well it is my fault” Ashlyn spoke softly, their heads still close together. “I got greedy. I’m sorry.”

“I loved it, just like you knew I would” the brunette’s lips grazed her wife’s cheek as she whispered with a smirk. “Happy anniversary, sugar.”

After their leisurely lunch they took a taxi over to the Gardner museum and warmed up in the beautiful, balmy courtyard. They strolled through the rooms of Isabella’s palace, never letting go of each other’s hand the whole time. They spent too much money in the gift shop, spent a last few minutes admiring ‘El Jaleo’, and then went back out into the freezing afternoon. Truthfully, they both would have been happy to head home at that point. They were tired and wanted nothing more than to crash on the big couch in the front living room and watch a movie with the kids. But as they sat in the backseat of another cab on their way back to the hotel, Ali sat up straighter and set her jaw.

“How often do we get a whole day to ourselves?” she challenged her keeper and got a shoulder shrug in response. “Exactly. We’ve got an hour left and we’re not wasting it. What do you want to do?”

Ashlyn recognized the determined look on her wife’s face and knew they were not giving in early under any circumstances. She thought quickly about where they could go and what they could do for one last hour of their day together. 

“Want me to kick your ass?” she raised both eyebrows and waited for the attitude she had just invited back from her beautiful brunette.

“Oh, you can try” Ali didn’t disappoint as she sat up straighter with a cocky look on her face. “Pick your poison, All-star.”

Ashlyn could not wipe the smile off of her face, watching her wife pocket one ball after the next as they played 9-ball at a nearby pool hall. Ali Krieger bending her body over the felt of a pool table and smartly drilling ball after ball was an indelible image in Ashlyn’s mind from that first summer they hung out together after Boston Breakers games. 

“You have no idea what you do to me, woman!” the keeper announced when Ali stood in front of her to gloat about her third victory in a row. “God, you’re gorgeous” Ashlyn put her hands on her wife’s hips and squeezed gently while the brunette laughed and rolled her eyes.

“Laying it on a little thick there babe. I already said yes, remember?” she wiggled her ring finger towards her wife and flashed a megawatt smile.

“You really don’t get how incredible you are, do you?” Ashlyn cocked her head and smiled back. 

“Ash, stop” Ali blushed and ducked her head in response to the flattery. She knew her wife was being sincere but it was still embarrassing. 

“Can’t help it baby. I’m helpless when it comes to loving you...”

“Ugh, God” Ali chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to her wife’s lips. “Such a cheeseball” she paused as they looked into each other’s eyes for a long few seconds. “But I know the feeling, trust me.” 

“Yeah?” Ashlyn sounded bashful and adorable and it melted Ali’s heart.

“Absolutely” the brunette bit her lip as her emotions swirled, even in the loud, decidedly unromantic pool hall. Ali gave her own cheesy, but sincere, line. “Sometimes when I see you standing there...you take my breath away.”

It was 5:30pm when Ashlyn pulled into the driveway that evening. The cheesy romantic vibe that had hit them playing pool had carried over to the drive home and they had sung their lungs out to every love song they could think of. Sometimes they were laughing so hard it was difficult to tell exactly what song they were trying to sing. After one last, lingering kiss in the Jeep, they hopped out and walked towards the mudroom door and their family.

“They’re HERE!!” they heard a shout from inside and had a hard time identifying whose voice it was, but their money was on Lily.

The two blissed out moms shared a cautious look but then laughed it off as they entered the mudroom and took their coats and shoes off while greeting a whirling dervish Logan. After a minute they stood up and took in their surroundings, surprised that the kids hadn’t come and welcomed them home yet. They could hear lots of whispering coming from the kitchen as well as other cooking sounds. As they were enjoying a waft of delicious-smelling garlic, they heard music kick in much too loudly at first, then softer, a squeal and then some giggling accompanying it.

“Hel-lo?” Ashlyn called out cautiously as she stepped towards the doorway into the kitchen.

“Anybody home?” Ali added, right behind her as they held hands again without thinking about it. 

“Wait!” an urgent young voice cried out and stopped them in their tracks.

“Hurry up!”  
“I’m going as fast as I can!”  
“Well go faster!!”

There were sounds of shuffling feet and dining table chairs being pushed across the tiled kitchen floor and then more urgent whisper-yells. Logan walked into the kitchen and back to her moms and then into the kitchen again, confused by their hesitance to go with her.

“Ok, go get them. Greet them” Meg’s voice sounded louder than the rest. “Wait!” she giggled. “You forgot your towel. There. Perfect. Go on!”

Ashlyn and Ali were both already smiling from hearing the adorable preparation going on in the other room. Dodge jumped to a stop just inside the kitchen side of the open doorway between the two rooms, took a deep breath, fixed the white dish towel he had draped over his forearm like a formal maître d at a fancy restaurant, and walked officially into the mudroom looking as serious as his moms had ever seen him. He was dressed up in one of his button-up dress shirts with a clip-on bowtie, and his favorite blue sweatpants. Barefoot. Both Ali and Ashlyn grinned widely, a nose-crinkle and a dimple included, and said hello to their youngest son.

“Well hello there sir” Ashlyn nodded her head.  
“Don’t you look handsome” Ali added as she stepped beside her wife.

“Your table...” he paused and made a scrunched-up face as he tried to remember what he was supposed to say again. “Oh yeah” he laughed. “Your table is ready” he finally announced with a big grin. “Right this way” he pointed into the kitchen with his non-dish towel covered arm.

The small 2-person table in front of the big fireplace looked beautiful. In fact, the whole left side of the room looked lovely and the two moms did their best not to worry about the disaster of a mess that the right side of the kitchen was in. Instead, they focused on the small, shallow candles that were lit along the fireplace mantle and the tall tapered dining candle in the middle of the table. The big overhead light had been dimmed to half, and the dinner music playlist coming from the speaker, also on the mantle, created a surprisingly romantic atmosphere in the room. There were four paper flowers that looked like they had been cut out of different colored construction paper and glued together to the stems, spread out flat in the middle of the table. There was a homemade string of cut-out letters stuck to a roll of paper towels that had been stretched out and taped to the front edge of the mantle. It read ‘Happy Anniversary’ and Ashlyn tried not to think of the multiple fire hazards they were looking at. It really was adorable, all of it. But the most beautiful thing in the room, by far, were the children with impatient and expectant grins on their ebullient little faces. Meg stood to the right, closest to the stove and countertop, apron tied securely around her neck and waist. Josie and Lily, one in a pretty purple dress, the other in a pink ballet tutu with a button-up shirt and bowtie, each stood behind a chair, waiting to pull it out for their parents when the time came. Drew, looking handsomer than ever and more grown up than either woman really liked, wore his best dress pants, button-up shirt, and long tie, and was the only one wearing shoes. Ashlyn noticed his shiny black dress shoes right away and made a note to praise him for his diligence in cleaning them for the occasion. He stood to the left, near the counter by the fridge and the coffee maker and the pantry, with an open bottle of red wine in his hands and another dish towel like his brother, draped across one forearm. Dodge walked them to the table like a proud little peacock and then pointed at it with a flourish. He used his very best fancy voice and gave them a deep bow right afterwards.

“Your table.”

Lily and Josie pulled the chairs back, revealing handmade anniversary cards on the seats that they picked up so their moms could sit down. Ali and Ashlyn helped them by pulling the chairs in as they sat, knowing the girls wouldn’t be able to time the push in just right yet. Something sizzled on the stove and got Meg’s attention.

“Oh shit” she mumbled and moved quickly to take the pot of boiling pasta off the burner and drain it into the colander in the sink.

The two moms exchanged a quick smile and wink as the three youngest kids stood close by waiting for them to admire the cards and decorations, which they did promptly. 

“Drew, you’re up” Meg whispered as she moved back to the counter next to the stove and began plating the pasta and meatballs she had prepared for dinner.

Drew’s eyes went wide for a second and he looked like he had been caught up in the card opening and praise that followed. All the kids had signed and written or drawn in both cards, even Drew and Meg. Logan wrote her capital ‘L’ just the same way that Lily did. What a coincidence.

“Can I offer you some wine with your dinner?” Drew asked in his best, most serious and official voice while the younger kids looked on with admiration.

“Yes please.”  
“Absolutely, thank you.”

They both held their breath, and their wine glasses, as their oldest son carefully poured the red wine into each glass. It took forever because he was trying desperately not to spill any of it, but he did a great job. He let out an audible sigh of relief as he put the wine bottle on the table between them. Ali saw Meg smile at him and felt her heart surge with love at the interaction.

“Where’s my water girl?” the ringleader asked. “And I need my servers...”

Dodge and Josie moved quickly to the counter to pick up a plate of salad for each mom and serve it to them while Lily jogged to the fridge and got her moms’ water bottle thermoses, freshly filled. Meg raised her eyebrows at Drew to get his attention and then moved her eyes from him to the wine bottle and back to him. But he wasn’t getting it.

“Here’s your water!” Lily announced, her voice brimming with excitement before she twirled away and giggled after putting the bottles on the table.

“Your first course” Josie spoke with some sort of strange, quasi-British accent that somehow worked perfectly with what she was doing.

“And here’s your salad...Ummm, shoot, I mean your first course” Dodge corrected himself as he heard his big sister get it right.

“Here you go Lils” Meg patted the blonde’s butt and smiled as she watched her make her way back to the crowded table with a basket of garlic bread. 

“There’s no room” Lily frowned.

“Oh!” Drew finally got the message Meg had been trying to send him. He quickly picked up the wine bottle and remembered that he was supposed to stand there with it and refill their glasses as necessary. “Now put it there” he instructed his sister who happily obliged and then went to stand next to her big brother.

“Your main course” both Dodge and Josie spoke at the same time as they pushed dinner plates towards their moms. Ali and Ashlyn both helped them get the plates into place and thanked them for such wonderful service.

Meg herded the two servers under each arm and mirrored Drew and Lily’s position on the other side of the table before speaking for the group.

“We just wanted to wish you a happy anniversary. So enjoy!”

All the kids clapped and cheered and came in for hugs and kisses before Meg shooed them out of the room so their parents could enjoy the romantic meal. Only Logan remained, licking up the bits and drops that had landed on the floor during meal prep and dinner service. It didn’t take long for one kid and then another to peek around both ends of the fireplace from the family room and the mudroom door, checking on the progress of the meal. Drew refilled their wine glasses once and Lily made sure they had enough water. Ali and Ashlyn gamely ate as much as they could, finishing their salads and filling up on more garlic bread than usual. The pasta was overcooked and the meatballs hadn’t been thawed all the way before being added to the sauce. Neither woman would dream of hurting Meg’s feelings and they couldn’t imagine how hard she had worked preparing the meal and getting the kids ready and helping with the decorations and music and everything else. Meg was turning 20 years old in a month and she was perfectly capable of cooking pasta and meatballs and had done it before but this had just not been her night. Ashlyn told a little white lie and said that they had eaten a very late lunch and just weren’t that hungry again yet. Ali loved her wife more in that moment than she could remember. The pasta was barely edible and the brunette was having a hard time getting it down.

“Ready for dessert?” the tall redhead asked as she watched the other 4 kids clear the plates to the counter by the sink.

“Oh, we’re so full...” Ali continued her wife’s white lie but reconsidered when she heard all of the kids groan their disappointment.

“How about we share our dessert with you guys” Ashlyn suggested. “Will you help us eat it?”

“Wait, have you had your dinners yet?” Ali laughed, realizing they hadn’t even asked.

“Yeah, we’re good” Meg winked. “I ordered pizza and we ate before you got home.”

“Can we have cookies with them Meggie, please?” Lily begged as the other kids joined her.

“That’s up to them” she smiled back down at the kids as they clung to her on all sides. Even Drew had come over for a big sister hug. “This is their first date, remember? They didn’t have any of you monkeys on their first date...”

Neither mom had the heart to correct them about the actual timing of their February anniversary and the night of their first date. They were one day apart but really, who cared anymore? Their February anniversary was the day they first confessed their love for each other. Then they had their first date the next night. Technicalities that nobody besides Ali and Ashlyn needed to even think about.

“What do you think honey?” Ashlyn smiled across the table at her wife, holding her hand and enjoying the moment immensely. It was so wonderful to have all 5 kids together and, more importantly, working together.

“Hmmm...well, I think this is just like our first date and I love it” Ali beamed at Ashlyn before transferring it to the kids. “But you’ve already made it so much better than our first date...”

“Yeah” Ashlyn followed the brunette’s lead. “We didn’t have this many candles, or these beautiful cards or flowers...”

The keeper tried not to think about the delicious take-out Thai food they had enjoyed on their actual first date. It only made her hungry.

“And we definitely didn’t have this wonderful service” Ali’s eyebrows went up enthusiastically. “So I think it makes sense to do dessert better now too. With you guys. What about you babe?”

“I agree completely” Ashlyn nodded. “Genius plan.”

What the moms didn’t disclose was that there was no way anything could ever be better than the dessert they had shared back on the night of their first date. That had been the first time they had ever had sex and it was still the most magical, romantic, fantastic night they had ever spent together. Homemade chocolate chip cookies, even when spiced up with ice cream as they were this night, couldn’t hold a candle to that. No fucking way, no how. 

The only other thing they missed in the recreation of their memorable, remarkable first date, was the dancing. But Meg had her own vivid memories of watching Ashlyn and Ali dance in their kitchen after doing a similar first date reenactment with Deb back when the redhead was just a little girl. She couldn’t remember many of the details, but she remembered the dancing. As they ate their cookies, everyone milling around the two moms at the small kitchen table, Meg waited until the song on the playlist ended. Then she played ‘At Last’ and grinned as she watched Ali and Ashlyn blink sweetly at each other.

“Now you dance” Meg requested without really giving them an option.

Neither woman hesitated, and Ashlyn laughed at her wife who was trying to chew and swallow the big bite of cookie Lily had just fed her. Ali just rolled her eyes and giggled as she let her keeper spin her into place in the middle of the long, narrow room.

“Are you ready baby?” she gazed lovingly into those whiskey-colored eyes she loved so much.

“Mmmm Hmmm” the brunette laughed some more, almost choking on her mouthful as the opening string section of the song gave way to Etta James’ sonorous vocals.

Neither of them had planned it, but a couple of whispers and nods passed between them and they began to do the mildly choreographed first dance from their wedding. Ali had wanted to plan out the entire dance back then but Ashlyn wouldn’t allow it. They compromised and choreographed a few big spins at key moments in the song and finished with a romantic dip at the end. It had been perfect. 14-1/2 years later in the kitchen of the house where it had all begun for them, the couple moved effortlessly together. They knew each other’s moves so well that they could dance in their sleep. But somehow it wasn’t boring or monotonous. One or the other of them always added a little something new to the choreography or dialogue that kept it surprisingly fresh. That night, Ali got up on her tip toes and twirled her wife beneath their upstretched arms for a little something different. Ashlyn went right along with it, playfully ducking her head without letting their hands separate.

“Yay Mommy!” Josie clapped and grinned at the new move halfway through the song.

Ashlyn winked at Meg and the redhead blushed, pleased with the acknowledgement.

“Come dance with us” Ali extended an arm towards the young woman who had pulled off the sweetest surprise either of the moms could remember in a long time.

Josie and Lily didn’t have to be asked twice, bounding towards their mothers and taking an arm each. Dodge followed close behind and the five of them danced in a circle together. Meg dragged Drew out to dance, just the two of them and Ashlyn thought her heart was going to explode from the cuteness of it all. As much fun as their intimate night and gift of a day had been, and there had been a ton of very necessary grown-up fun, both women were madly in love with their dinner date dance party. Having the kids work hard together to pull this off meant the world to Ali and Ashlyn and they wouldn’t soon forget it. 

As the song came to a close, the two moms freed themselves from the kids and executed the dramatic dip to perfection, Ashlyn dipping Ali low to the ground and kissing her soundly for good measure. There was a mixture of clapping and groaning at the display but it didn’t matter. As wonderful as their first date had been 16 years ago and as spectacular as their first dance had been at their wedding 14-1/2 years ago, this was better. Having their kids around them, with them, participating in the moment was infinitely more satisfying. Ali thought for a moment about what she and Ashlyn had talked about in December during her second marriage proposal up in the studio. The picture of their love and their life getting more beautiful all the time, fuller and deeper. This, right here in this room in this moment, was exactly what they had been talking about.

“Dodge! Look out!” Ashlyn yelped as she lost her balance when the 8-1/2 year old got himself tangled up between her long legs.

Ali knew what was coming but was powerless to do anything about it but let it happen. She saw the frustrated and worried look on her wife’s gorgeous face but just smiled up into it, trying to tell her it would be ok.

“Ali!” the keeper grunted as she tried her best to keep supporting her wife with only one leg balancing them.

It was no use though. Try as she might, Ashlyn couldn’t hold her anymore and the brunette began to fall. The keeper never let her go though, choosing to go down with her instead of saving herself. If there was a chance she could break Ali’s fall she would try her best to do so. Luckily it was only a couple of feet to the floor and the brunette was able to avoid hitting her head too hard. She laughed out loud as the whole slow-motion debacle took place. Ashlyn landed on top of her but braced herself so it was almost a gentle landing. All of the kids who were watching had moved closer to try and do something, everybody except for Dodge who was literally tangled up in his Mama’s legs and couldn’t see anything but the floor. Before Ashlyn and Ali had been down for 30 seconds, Lily and Josie joined them in a kind of dance party pig pile. Drew and Meg and Logan all stood around the edge of the mass of bodies wondering what to do next. Logan playfully jumped on Ashlyn’s back with her two front paws, growling and whining as she tried to play. Meg helped Dodge out from underneath Ashlyn, and Ali grabbed Drew’s leg and tried to pull him into the fun too. He relented and did his best not to hurt any of his siblings on his descent – both moms appreciated the mature decision. A lot.

As they squirmed and giggled and laughed together on the kitchen floor through another classic, romantic song, Ali caught her wife’s eye through random limbs and Lily’s long, wild, blonde hair. They smiled brightly at each other.

“Happy anniversary honey” the brunette spoke loudly, to be heard over the din.

Ashlyn grinned back. “Best anniversary ever.”


	4. Uh Oh, Meg

The Krieger family weekly schedule was out of control that Spring. Most of the activities for school started again in late January but some held off until March, like play rehearsal for The Lion King which was that Spring’s big musical. The Winter and Fall schedules were very similar, the only real differences being the sports that the kids participated in and the moms coached. The Fall was Soccer for all four kids and Football for Dodge. Winter was Basketball for all four kids; Indoor Soccer for Drew, Lily, and Dodge; and Josie had tried her hand at Gymnastics this past winter for the very first time. In addition, Drew played on a separate, invitational travel league basketball team. Spring was Baseball for the boys and Softball for the girls. Drew again played on a separate, more advanced travel league baseball team, just like he had done with basketball. The end of March saw the end of Winter sports and the beginning of Spring sports for the town. 

Ali still coached 3 soccer teams in the Fall: Drew’s, Josie’s, and Lily’s. Dodge played up as he had done for the past couple of years. This coming Fall they expected him to play up two age groups but Ali and Ashlyn hadn’t made their final decision on that yet. Ashlyn coached 3 basketball teams in the winter and assistant coached Drew’s for her 4th coaching obligation of the season. She also coached both girls’ softball teams in the Spring while Ali assistant coached Dodge’s baseball team. Sam Machado was still coaching Drew’s baseball team. Neither of the moms coached in the invitational travel leagues because they simply didn’t have enough time. Sam Machado coached Drew & Ethan’s invitational travel league baseball team too, but it was comprised of kids from neighboring towns as well and they all had to be good enough to be asked to play in the league.

The activity that fluctuated the most during the school year was the play rehearsal. The schedule got more intense as opening night got closer. Also taking up time was music. All four kids sang in the school chorus and played an instrument. The weekly group music lessons up in Rockport had stopped once the twins began playing their own instruments this past September, thank goodness, because sometimes it felt like there wasn’t a spare hour in the week at all. As always, Ali and Ashlyn relied on other parents for help when they needed it to get all four of their kids where they needed to be. It was very reciprocal though and there was often an extra kid in the Krieger minivan or Jeep after practice or rehearsal. 

And it was a cruel kind of twist that once everybody’s schedule got busier, the whole damned day started earlier too. Once Drew had started middle school, and riding the bus, he had to be up and at ‘em at 6:15am so he could get dressed and eat something before he had to be out the door no later than 7:05am so he could catch the 7:08am bus up at Bass Ave. That was by far the most stressful part of an average day. The only thing that topped it was if one of the other kids had some sort of crisis or meltdown about something else. And it wasn’t only Drew who lost his extra 45 minutes of sleep. Ashlyn was the one who had to get up at 6:10am to make sure that her eldest son was awake and getting dressed for school by 6:15am sharp. She hated early mornings and the 6:10am wake up time she had been forced to adopt for the past year and a half hadn’t changed her opinion on the matter.

The daily Spring 2032 Krieger schedule, in all its’ glory:

Sunday –   
Drew travel baseball game sometime in the morning or early afternoon, location anywhere among 5 surrounding towns  
Play rehearsal from 3-5pm at school for Josie, Lily, and Dodge

Monday –  
Middle School 7:40am – 2:00pm  
Elementary School 8:30am – 2:30pm  
Josie’s private piano lesson at home 4-5pm  
Ali’s adult women’s soccer rec league 7-10pm

Tuesday –  
Lily’s private French horn lesson in Rockport 3-4pm  
Drew baseball practice 6-7pm

Wednesday –  
Dodge’s private drum lesson in Rockport 3-4pm  
Lily & Ashlyn softball practice 5-6pm  
Josie & Ashlyn softball practice 6-7pm  
Becca Flanagan sleepover or babysitting

Thursday –  
Josie’s private flute lesson in Rockport 4-5pm  
Dodge & Ali baseball practice 5-6pm  
Drew baseball practice 6-7pm

Friday –  
Play rehearsal from 3-5pm at school for Josie, Lily, and Dodge  
Drew’s private trumpet lesson in Rockport 4-5pm

Saturday –  
2 baseball + 2 softball games anywhere between 8am – 3pm  
Play rehearsal from 3-5pm at school for Josie, Lily, and Dodge  
Drew travel baseball team practice 5-7pm

Homework was done in the afternoon, after having a snack and relaxing a bit first, of course, or right after dinner if one of the kids had an afternoon activity. They were each required to practice their instruments twice a week, for 30 minutes each time, or they would have to give up their private lessons. That was something Ali and Ashlyn both felt strongly about. They were more than willing to pay for the private lessons as long as the kids put the work in on their own to truly benefit from the expensive instruction.

Ali and Ashlyn did their best to have dinner together and with as many of their kids as possible, but it didn’t happen much during the week. Typically, one of them fed 2 or 3 of the kids and the other took care of the rest as they came and went. Ali tried hard to be home by 5pm and sometimes made it up to Gloucester a little earlier. She and Ashlyn talked or texted about who needed to be picked up where and the brunette usually ended up bringing somebody someplace on her way home. 

Bedtime was similar but not quite as structured as it used to be. Once the kids turned 10, as both Drew and Josie had, they were allowed to take their nightly showers at any point after dinner and before bedtime. The twins took their showers at 7:30pm so they were ready for bed and storytime at 8:00pm. Ali and Ashlyn still took turns reading the family chapter book to whomever wanted to listen every night from 8:00 – 8:30pm. Josie was almost 11 years old and found herself having a hard time deciding what to do some nights. She loved storytime and wanted to participate but sometimes she felt like she was too old for it – even though her parents repeatedly told her how ridiculous that was. Drew had struggled with the same thing and still came in a couple of times a week, even if he played his handheld video game at the same time. But both moms knew that would soon stop altogether as their tween was about to turn into an official teenager that May. The twins were tucked into bed for the night at 8:30pm but Drew and Josie were allowed to read in bed until 9:00pm if they wanted. They both had their own modified phones but they weren’t allowed to use them after 8:30pm. The phones stayed downstairs on the charging station on the desk in the mudroom while the kids got their much needed sleep. 

Sundays were still mostly family days, complete with family dinner together whether it was at home or at a 4-family gathering. That was non-negotiable. Meg came up for Sunday dinner as often as she could, which was more often when it wasn’t soccer season. She was enjoying her sophomore year of college and visited the big old house at least once a month to do her laundry and check in with everybody. Sometimes she showed up on Saturday to watch her younger siblings play their games. Sometimes she came by herself. Sometimes she brought her college roommate, BC soccer teammate, and bestie, Gwen, with her. Sometimes she brought her friend who was probably more than a friend but Meg wasn’t ready to discuss it with anybody yet, Charlie Applegate. Everybody was always glad to see her, regardless of when she visited or whom she brought with her. 

That hectic, basic weekly schedule didn’t even include classmate birthday parties, school field trips, sleepovers with besties, Drew’s dates with Erin, or any kind of deviations that happened when one or more of the kids, or moms, got sick. It was easy to see why the two moms had a difficult time scheduling date nights for themselves. As always, they relied on Ken and Vicki for help on the weekends with all of the games, as well as for date nights and other school meetings or parent-teacher conferences that came up during the school year. Tammye and Carol and Deb and Mike were all around a lot more in the summer but Ken and Vicki were there year-round and really came through for the young Krieger family. 

//

Ali had been trying to join an adult women’s recreational soccer league for the past two years, but one thing or another kept getting in the way. She and Sydney promised themselves that this year, 2032, was the year they were doing it – no matter what. They told their spouses, both of whom supported the endeavor 100%, and finally made it happen. Molly Cross joined them too. Niki, Whitney, and Ashlyn wanted to as well, but former pro-players weren’t always as welcome as they would have liked – even those in their 40’s. As the brunette had promised her keeper before, she would get a feel for the league and the women playing in it before letting Ashlyn know if she thought it would be a good idea or not.

Every Monday evening Ali drove to Medford, MA, two towns North of Cambridge and right next to Arlington, MA where the Crosses still lived, played soccer from 7-8:30pm and then went out for drinks with the gals afterwards. She was usually home by 11:00pm at the latest. Sometimes, especially in the beginning, she drove all the way home to Gloucester for dinner and then drove all the way back to Medford for soccer. But that didn’t last long. It was a silly waste of time and gas. Instead, she started meeting different friends for dinner near her Cambridge office and then drove up to soccer. It turned out to be a wonderful way to see some of her favorite people in person instead of relying on phone calls and texts to sustain their friendship. More often than not, she and Sydney met at Molly’s house in Arlington for a quick dinner before their game and that was just fine with all three women. 

The brunette initially felt bad about scheduling on Monday night because she had always gone out of her way to keep Monday evenings as free from kid activities as possible. The kids needed a day to transition from weekend mode to school mode and the Krieger schedule with Mondays fairly relaxed had always worked well for them. 

“I think it’s the perfect night for you to go out and play” the keeper shrugged as they discussed fitting Ali’s soccer into the family schedule back in the winter. “Honestly hon, it’s the easiest night all week. It was made for you to go and do this” she smiled sweetly at her wife who still looked concerned as they talked during a commercial break from the true crime show they were watching.

“Are you sure?”

“Al, I’m sooooo sure. I’ll be mad if you don’t do it” she quirked an eyebrow at the brunette, sitting next to her on the family room couch.

“I really wanna do it” Ali’s eyes sparkled with excitement at the thought of playing competitive soccer again, even if it was just a recreational league. 

“Well, I can call Syd and make her drag you there...”

“No, no” the brunette laughed. “I already got the talk from her too.”

“Well, you know we’re both not wrong. That’s just not possible. We’ve been over this” Ashlyn teased as she pulled her wife closer and tickled her.

“Don’t!” Ali whined and then giggled as she tried to protect herself from her keeper’s long arms and strong hands. “Ash! Stop!” she laughed even harder and then straddled her wife’s lap in an attempt to get some leverage.

“Well hello there” Ashlyn smirked and moved her hands to Ali’s breasts, addressing her greeting to the small beauties she loved more than any others in the world.

Ali grinned, knowing her plan had worked perfectly but not wanting to gloat about it and make her wife move her hands back to tickling.

“Hi” she said instead, softly blinking down at the love of her life. “My eyes are up here.”

As soon as Ali and Sydney got the situation sussed out they called their friends Jessie and Carm, who had also been Sydney’s old college teammates at BU, to join the league. It wasn’t long before Ali and Sydney’s high school besties joined as well, Liz and Erica. Before long, many of their friends and acquaintances from the world of women’s soccer had joined the league, including Stephanie McCaffrey and the Mewis sisters who were all still living locally. Cat Whitehill joined them when she could as did several members of the Boston Breakers training and coaching staff. It was only natural that Ashlyn, Whitney, and Niki joined too. Both Niki and Ashlyn were worried that they were encroaching on an activity that their wives might have wanted to keep to themselves – but Molly and Ali made it crystal clear that they wanted to do soccer with them, more than anything.

Playing in the league was so much fun that they decided to keep it going throughout the summer. It was originally supposed to stop when school got out in June but they chose to keep it going, as long as they could field two decent sized teams on any given Monday. Attendance definitely fluctuated as summer vacations happened but there were always at least 10 – 12 women eager to play. The women’s recreational league turned out to be one of the most fun things any of them had ever done and it went on for years in one form or another. 

Ashlyn would never forget the night Ali came home from her first Monday night of soccer. Mid-March was a dicey time of year for weather in New England. It was almost always freezing cold and usually involved snow or freezing rain. But, just to keep it interesting, and in true New England fashion, the month was peppered with sunny 50-degree days as well. You just never knew what to expect but, if you were smart, you planned on freezing your ass off. Ali and Ashlyn were both still in pretty good shape, but not great shape. They both still worked out in the basement gym a few times a week and, at 47 and 46 years old that Spring, they looked and felt good. They were both toned and strong but nowhere near as defined as they had been 10 years earlier. Ashlyn especially wasn’t as sculpted as she had been when she was an active professional athlete – but how could she possibly be? The difference between her 36-year old body and her 46-year old body was more noticeable than the changes in Ali’s body, but only because Ashlyn’s had been in such superior shape to begin with. They were in shape but neither one of them was going to be running a marathon anytime soon. Running around a frozen soccer pitch for 90 minutes for the first time after being less active all winter long had been a shock to Ali’s system. To say the least.

“Oh my God, I’m dying” the brunette moaned as she stood in the kitchen and faced the family room where her wife had been dozing on the couch with Logan. “Seriously, I’m not gonna make it.”

“There she is” Ashlyn yawned and gave her wife a sleepy smile as she sat up and stretched. Logan did the same and they both got up to go greet the aggrieved soccer player who hadn’t moved an inch. “Hi baby, how was it?”

Ali leaned her whole body into the keeper after Ashlyn pressed a soft kiss to her lips, but never used her arms for any support or help. She just gave her entire body to her wife like a rag doll.

“Everything hurts.”

“Aw, I’m sorry baby” Ashlyn tried to keep the amused look off of her face and out of her voice as she moved a leg back to take the brunette’s weight and hold her up. “It’ll be better next time. You can do it” she whispered into the side of Ali’s head and then kissed it as she rubbed her back and arms a bit.

“Whose dumb idea was this again?” Ali asked in a half groan – half chuckle.

“Were you warm enough? It was cold tonight...”

“I’m freezing. But I had two beers and warmed up on the inside” Ali let the keeper stand her back up on her own two feet. She blinked up at Ashlyn. “Did you wait up for me?” her unhappy face turned quickly into a nose-crinkling grin at the idea.

Ashlyn blushed and kissed her wife again, this time letting their lips linger together for a minute. “Maybe” she demurred and smiled.

“That’s so sweet babe. That makes me feel better” Ali admitted softly as they kissed again.

“That’s good” the keeper nodded. “But you don’t smell very good...”

Ali took the playful, but true, quip with a nod and a roll of her eyes. “I know, I know...I’m gonna go shower” she sighed heavily but didn’t move.

Ashlyn watched her wife stand there and take a few deep breaths, gathering her strength and resolve to make her body actually move.

“Why don’t we have a shower on the first floor again?” the brunette whined as her wife laughed.

“Do you need help?” Ashlyn put her arm around her wife’s waist and guided her towards the backstairs.

“I had so much fun” Ali’s voice had that spark of excitement in it again as they slowly made their way up the stairs. “Thank you for encouraging me to do this, and for letting me do this. I mean, I know you didn’t let me do it...but for helping me get it worked out. Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome” Ashlyn squeezed her waist gently, not sure exactly what hurt on her wife’s aching body but trying to be careful. “Anything for my queen.”

//

Two weeks later, the last weekend in March, Ali and Ashlyn realized that they had let the entire month of March go by without making a date night happen. They had done one in January, and two in February, but none so far in March. Neither of them was sure how it had happened, but they were determined to correct it. After failing to get a babysitter for any time Friday or Saturday during the weekend, they agreed to get creative and try for Sunday instead – even though they tried to keep Sundays as family days as much as possible. Nobody could help them out though, even on Sunday, and they were about to try spreading the kids out to different friends for at least a couple of hours in the afternoon so they could sneak away for a little bit. A couple of hours would be better than nothing. Just as Ali was about to start putting that plan in motion, Ashlyn put her hand on her wife’s arm to stop her.

“What about Meg?”

The two moms had agreed not to ask Meg to help them with the kids while she was doing her college thing in Boston. They didn’t want to weigh her down with obligations and they knew she would be too nice to refuse if they asked her. So they just didn’t ask her. If Meg wanted to come up and spend time with them, then that was wonderful – just as she had done back in early February for the first date dinner reenactment. It had been 3-1/2 semesters of college so far and they had been successfully avoiding asking the redhead all along. So successful that the idea never even crossed Ali’s mind that Friday night as they were trying to find a solution for Sunday.

“You think?” Ali considered her wife’s suggestion.

“It can’t hurt” Ashlyn shrugged. “I’ll just make sure she knows she can say no...I’ll make sure she doesn’t do it if she doesn’t want to.”

“She hasn’t been up to do her laundry in a few weeks...” Ali pursed her lips as she contemplated the idea some more. “I’ll make sure to cook her favorites, and stock up the fridge...”

“Yeah, we’ll sweeten the deal for her as much as we can. Sam can take Drew to baseball...”

“And depending on when Meg can come, maybe the other kids miss play rehearsal this weekend?” Ali proposed as they looked at each other and nodded. One missed play rehearsal this early in the rehearsal schedule was not going to make or break anything. They had until the end of May to rehearse! “I’m ok with that.”

Meg had quickly agreed to babysit Sunday afternoon, even after Ashlyn had bent over backwards to make sure she knew she could say no. She had laundry to do and a paper due on Tuesday that she really needed to finish. It was perfect. She would stay through dinner so Ali and Ashlyn could eat out and return around 7 or 8pm. That was the plan until Meg called Ashlyn Saturday evening on her way out for the night.

“So, Tiff’s here” Meg stated matter-of-factly as soon as Ashlyn picked up the call.

“Oh, wow. Did you know she was coming up?” the blonde asked, slightly annoyed that this hadn’t come up in their conversation the day before.

“No, she surprised me” Meg sounded nervous and like she’d already had a drink or maybe two. She giggled and then shushed someone nearby. “I had no idea she was coming.”

“Ok, well, don’t worry about it. We’ll figure something else out for tomorrow” Ashlyn let her stepdaughter off the hook, mind spinning to try to find another solution with even less notice.

“No, I’m not trying to get out of it. I just wanted to know if it was ok if I brought Tiff with me.”

Ashlyn was concentrating so hard she barely heard her.

“What?”

“Can Tiff come with me tomorrow?”

“Of course she can” the blonde smiled in relief. “Are you sure you still wanna come up? Tell me now” her voice flattened out and sounded very parental. “Don’t bail on me tomorrow because you’re too chicken to do it now...”

“No, no we won’t bail. I promise. Thanks Ash. See you tomorrow.”

It had been a challenging two years for Tiff and Meg, former high school and life besties. Tiff had come up for a few visits and Meg had gone home to DC several times and even spent most of the summer there after freshman year. But the young women had drifted apart as so often happens at that stage of life. Making things more difficult was the fact that Tiff was always jealous of Meg’s soccer bestie, whomever that happened to be at any given time. Meg had managed to forge a peaceful friendship back in high school between Tiff and first Amber, then Nichelle. But so far, Tiff and Gwen, Meg’s college bestie and roommate and teammate, had not been so lucky. Tiff was always jealous of the time Meg spent with Gwen and Gwen didn’t appreciate the bitchy treatment she got from Tiff when she visited. The three didn’t spend enough time together to make much progress on the problem either. Meg had talked to all three of her moms about it and they all agreed that maybe spending time with just Tiff when she came up to visit might be best for everybody in the long run. If Gwen was up for tolerating Tiff’s bitchiness and wanted to join in then that was fine too, but it didn’t happen very often. Which is why the events of Sunday afternoon were all the more surprising.

Ali and Ashlyn had planned to spend the afternoon shopping or maybe seeing a movie before going out to dinner and returning to the big old house to relieve Meg and Tiff for the night. But Sunday turned out to be one of those rare, lovely 50 degree March days so they changed plans at the last minute and drove up to The Academy in Greenfield, NH for one of their favorite hikes. It always felt strange, but a good strange, to be at The Academy when it wasn’t summer soccer camp season. Everything looked the same but felt...different somehow. They left a note for Jane Sheldrick, sorry to have missed her but happy to see that she did occasionally take a day off from her duties running the camp facility. 

The two moms enjoyed their hike and each other’s company immensely, right up until Ali slipped on a rock and fell into the stream they were attempting to cross. She twisted her ankle, but it was mostly her pride that was hurt. She was soaking wet from the waist down and neither of them had brought any extra clothes to change into, other than an extra jacket and warmer hats and gloves in case the weather got colder once they were in NH. They had no choice but to head back home early. It was frustrating for them both but Ashlyn took more than a little pleasure driving home with her pantsless wife next to her in the passenger seat, extra jacket wrapped around her exposed lower body for warmth and discretion. The keeper couldn’t resist teasing her beautiful and embarrassed brunette but Ali was a good sport about it. She imagined how funny it would seem to her if the tables were turned and that made it much easier to laugh about. When they were almost home Ashlyn finally relented. An hour of teasing and needling during the drive home had led to a lot of laughter and joking and both women ended up having a really great afternoon, despite the dip in the stream.

“Want me to bring you some pants to put on?” Ashlyn asked, unable to keep the dimpled grin off of her face.

“Nah, I’ll just run upstairs, wherever the girls aren’t” she explained. “You’re not getting this jacket back until I’m in our room though” she chuckled and smiled as Ashlyn leaned over to give her a kiss.

It was just after 4pm and they were home 3 hours early, maybe 4 if they would have taken more time over dinner. They would never know though.

“That jacket has never looked better” the keeper flirted as they pulled apart a bit. “Maybe we can both sneak upstairs and lock the doors” she wagged her eyebrows. “Spend a couple of hours together?” she raised her eyebrows hopefully.

“We’d have to be so quiet...” Ali giggled, excited by the possibility of some afternoon sex with her hot wife. “Do you think?”

“If the kids are in the basement we’ve got a really good shot at making this work.”

“Ok, let’s do it!” Ali grinned as she got out of the Jeep and made sure the jacket was in place, the zippered opening exposing the side of her leg as it wrapped around her waist covering everything else down to her knees. “You go first and decide which way to go.”

The kids must have been in the basement because they weren’t on the first floor. Logan greeted the two moms in the mudroom with some extra loud and long whines as they tried to shush her. They crept towards the mudroom desk near the center of the house so they could spy into the kitchen and the backstairs to the right and the front living room and front stairs to the left, and determine the path of least resistance to their bedroom. They heard some unfamiliar laughter, some music, and the clinking of glass, all coming from the nook area at the back of the family room. Ali and Ashlyn straightened up and shared an anxious look, both of them getting serious in a matter of seconds.

“No way! That didn’t count!” a young woman’s voice laughed loudly. “There’s still half of it in the glass you cheater!”

“I drank it! Are you blind or something?” they recognized Tiff’s voice, although it sounded slurred and not quite like it normally did. “I’m not a cheater. You’re just blind. Blind or dumb.”

“Oooh I love this song! Turn it up!” the first voice spoke again. It sounded familiar but neither mom could place it at the moment. Their minds were working overtime trying to make sense of the other sounds they were hearing.

“Put that out. I told you, you can’t smoke in here” Meg’s voice spoke firmly but then she giggled. “I mean it. Jesus Tiff, come on.”

It took a few seconds but the distinctive aroma of marijuana made its way to the two women standing in the entrance to the kitchen from the mudroom.

“Yeah Tiff, don’t be such an asshole” the familiar first voice laughed and there were more sounds of glass clinking, this time with the swirling sound of ice added to it. “We need more ice, I’ll get it.”

There was a loud groan and a bang and then a lot of glass clinking and some shrieks and more laughter.

“Ooopsie daisy” the first voice laughed.

“They’re fucking drunk” Ashlyn’s steely voice was hard as she spoke quietly to her wife. 

“And high” Ali seethed as her jaw set.

“I’m gonna kill her.”

“Not if I get to her first” the brunette agreed, her face furious and her nostrils flaring.

Ashlyn stepped through the kitchen and into the space between the pantry and the big, double-sided fireplace, with Ali right next to her. They stood in the spot where they hung the mistletoe at Christmastime and looked angrily into the back corner of the family room.

Gwen was rolling on the floor next to the nook table, laughing uncontrollably with her hands across her stomach and her eyes closed. Tiff was lounging in the corner of the nook, her legs stretched out along the shorter banquette seat along the side of the house. She was also laughing as she tried to pinch out the joint she had lit without burning her fingertips. There were two bottles of alcohol, one rum and one vodka, open on the table and three glasses. A bottle of orange juice, a cutting board with some various fruit on it, a sharp knife, three different bags of chips, a container of salsa, a 2-liter bottle of Coke, a pan of freshly made brownies, ¾ of which had been eaten already, four shot glasses, and Ashlyn’s Bluetooth speaker were all scattered across the messy table too. There was a soccer game on the television at the front of the family room turned up loudly and adding to the general commotion of the room.

Meg sat on the longer banquette seat that ran along the back wall of the house. She wasn’t laughing. She looked confused and irritated. She seemed to be trying to decide which of her friends to help first. Making sure Tiff put the joint out without catching anything or anybody else on fire was obviously a priority. But getting Gwen and the two shot glasses, that had miraculously not broken, up off the floor after her clumsy fall was important too. As the redhead looked from her right, Tiff, to her left, Gwen, she finally noticed Ashlyn and Ali standing there with their hands on their hips and rage in their eyes.

“Oh, you’re home” she choked out as her head spun from sheer panic. “You’re early...” she smacked Tiff in the shoulder with her right hand and kicked Gwen with her left foot.

“Quit kicking me” Gwen giggled from the floor. “I’m getting more ice” she hiccupped. “Just gimme a minute...”

“Oh shit” Tiff’s eyes finally focused on whatever had made Meg look so terrified. She tried to sit up straighter but the sound her body made on the banquette seat as she did so made her laugh out loud out, sputtering and bending her head close to the top of the table.

“Did you just fart?” Gwen asked, picking her head up off the floor and then letting it drop back down again as she laughed some more.

“No! It was the seat!” Tiff tried to explain. When she opened her eyes again and looked up, she saw Ali and Ashlyn and coughed as she tried to get control of herself. “Shit. Gwen, get up.”

“It’s not as bad as it looks” Meg tried to explain, anxiety and dread filling her voice. “I swear. We were gonna make a drink, after the kids went downstairs...”

“Shit, where are the kids?” Tiff asked, not helping the situation in the least.

“They’re downstairs” Meg gave her a dirty look. “Just shut up.”

Ashlyn turned on her heel and walked to the basement door, leaving Ali standing there to fume by herself.

“What are you wearing?” Meg asked, sincerely thrown by the jacket her step-mom was wearing instead of pants. It seemed so incongruous that she couldn’t help but ask. “Where are your pants?”

“Who doesn’t have pants on?” Gwen asked, her curiosity piqued. She dragged herself into a sitting position, knocking one of the shot glasses down there with her onto its side. It rolled towards Ali and almost made it all the way to her bare foot. All four people in the room followed its progress and when it finally came to a stop the three younger women looked at Ali. “Oh. You don’t have pants on.”

It was pretty funny. Ali had to admit. And if she hadn’t been so enraged she probably would have laughed with them. But standing there while the three of them howled with laughter was not making the brunette feel any better about either situation – her missing pants, or the shattered trust in her stepdaughter.

“Ok, you’re lucky” Ashlyn was back and her voice was loud and clear, cutting through the laughter. She turned the tv off on her way back to Ali’s side. “The little kids are downstairs and seem to be fine and Drew is still at Ethan’s so I don’t have to kill you.” The keeper glared hard at each of the inebriated women in turn until they dropped their eyes one by one. “I don’t have to kill you, but I might still kill you. I haven’t decided yet.”

“The kids are fine” Meg offered meekly, bravely meeting the pulsing hazel eyes and then the fierce cinnamon ones. “I promise. Drew will be home at 5:30pm and the little kids went downstairs a couple hours ago, but I’ve been checking on them.”

Ashlyn’s heartrate came down a bit, recognizing that Meg definitely sounded less impaired than Tiff or Gwen did. It was still every kind of wrong, but at least Meg wasn’t completely shitfaced like the other two. Ashlyn came forward a few steps, picked up the two shot glasses from the floor and put them on the nook table before speaking again.

“Get out of this house, all of you” she pointed towards the mudroom and nodded gravely. “Go sober up outside, then you can come back in.”

“But it’s cold out there” Tiff whined.

“I suggest you bundle up then” Ashlyn stepped aside while Meg helped Gwen up off the floor and guided her to the mudroom. “Let’s go Tiff, get moving” the blonde carefully pulled the table away from the banquette seats so the drunk could get up without knocking the whole thing over. “Now!”

Tiff jumped at the booming yell and scrambled to catch up to the other two. She careened towards the fireplace like one of those contestants who spun themselves around the heel of the baseball bat 10 times and then tried to walk. Ashlyn grabbed her by the arm and walked her to the mudroom. She took both Meg’s and Gwen’s car keys and closed the mudroom door behind them after they put their outerwear on. She carried 6 bottles of water to them and then locked the door.

“You ok?” the keeper asked her wife, coming up behind her in their bedroom as Ali got changed a few minutes later. The brunette hadn’t said a word since they walked into the family room together 20 minutes earlier. “You’re awful quiet.”

Ali turned to face her keeper and pulled her into a hug. She didn’t say much as they embraced for a long few minutes.

“I can’t tell if I’m more angry or sad” she finally admitted, quiet exasperation in her voice. “I’m just...so fucking disappointed.”

After an hour, Meg texted Ashlyn and asked if they could come back inside. They all had to pee and the brisk March air, which had cooled off significantly, had really sobered them up. After using the bathroom, the young women cleaned up their mess, with Meg doing the lion’s share of the work because both Tiff and Gwen weren’t completely sober yet. It was clear that they would need more time to get clear-headed. Ashlyn told Meg to take them up to her room and let them sleep for a few hours. Maybe then they could drive back to Boston for the night.

Ali tried to counter her disappointment by spending some quality time with the other kids. Drew came home at 5:30 as planned and they all ate pizza that the brunette had arranged to be delivered as she tried to stay out of the way of the clean-up in the kitchen and family room. They had a special night and ate their pizza in the front living room while they watched a movie together. Ashlyn, Ali and the four youngest kids all hanging out together while Meg brought the pizza Ali had ordered for her and her friends upstairs. It was breaking the ‘no food upstairs’ rule but neither mom wanted to see those young ladies anymore that evening. 

Gwen was finally ready to drive back to school at about 8:30pm and did so. Meg waited until after the kids were in bed, hanging out in her room with Tiff until 9:00pm. 

“Can I come in” the hesitant redhead asked after knocking on the open doorway into the front living room from the front hall. She peeked her head in and found Ali dealing with school and kid social correspondence on her laptop while Ashlyn sat close by, reading Josie’s book from school. “Please?”

“What’s up?” Ashlyn gave her a cool look. 

“Umm, Tiff wants to say something” Meg stepped into the front living room with Tiff right behind her. 

Both older women looked up from their places on the couch. They weren’t smiling but they weren’t scowling anymore either. Progress.

“I’m sorry” Tiff said sincerely, still looking pale and out of sorts. She obviously had been in the worst shape of the three.

“Sorry for what?” Ashlyn asked simply, her voice even and face expressionless.

“Oh, uh, for drinking...and smoking...in your house” she stammered, dropping her eyes at the end.

“Thank you for apologizing” Ashlyn nodded, still without smiling.

Tiff looked up at Ashlyn and then glanced quickly at Ali who still hadn’t spoken a word to any of the younger women.

“I’ll be in the Jeep” Tiff walked quickly through the room, into the mudroom, and out the door.

Only when they heard the door close behind her did Meg speak again, stepping closer to the coffee table and the two disappointed women.

“I’m sorry too. I...I still can’t believe I let that happen. I didn’t think it would get so out of hand” the young woman looked and sounded genuinely remorseful. She looked like she might cry and it wasn’t because of inebriation or overindulgence.

It only took a few seconds for Ashlyn’s face to soften. She wasn’t good at holding a grudge and she didn’t like to be angry with any of the kids for any longer than absolutely necessary. 

“Come here” she motioned to the redhead, patting the coffee table in front of her. “Sit.”

Once Meg had complied, Ashlyn spoke again. Her voice this time was thoughtful and emotional.

“I don’t care that you had a drink with your friends while you were babysitting” she began, missing the pointed look that her wife gave her. “One drink while you’re hanging out isn’t a big deal. It’s not like we don’t drink when we want to” she shrugged.

“I’m so sorry...”

“I know you are” the blonde leaned forward and put her hand on Meg’s knee. “And you should be. But listen to me know. This is important and you need to understand this” she waited for Meg to nod and focus on her before continuing. “Those kids rely on you, or us, or whoever is here babysitting them, to keep them safe from anything that might happen to them or to the house. That’s the gig, right?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Most of the time nothing happens and everything’s fine and it’s boring as hell babysitting. But sometime, one time when you least expect it, something bad could happen and those kids...” she had to stop and clear her throat as her emotions rose up on her. “Those kids will need you to help them out of whatever that is that happens. And you have to be ready for that. Every time. It sounds dramatic, but it’s just the truth. That’s what having kids and being responsible for someone else is all about.”

“I know. I get it, I swear I do” Meg replied, her voice cracking under the weight of her own guilt and regret. “Nothing like this has ever happened before and it’ll never happen again...”

“You’re damn right it won’t” Ali’s words had more bite in them than Meg could ever remember being directed at her before.

Ashlyn didn’t want their conversation to devolve into an argument, even though she felt Ali was justified to be so angry. She changed the subject slightly, asking something that had been bothering her all night long.

“What was Gwen doing here anyway? You never told me she was coming. It was just Tiff.”

“She just showed up. Well, she called to see if I wanted anything at the store right before she got here, but she was already up here in Gloucester by then” Meg explained quickly. When neither woman said anything, she continued. “She knew I was babysitting this afternoon because I told her I might not be home tonight, you know, in case you guys stayed out late or something” she added quickly. “You know how Tiff is with Gwen” she rolled her eyes. “Everything was fine at first and we played with the kids for a while. But then Tiff got bored and she and Gwen started being pissy with each other.”

Both Ali and Ashlyn knew what Meg was talking about and the scenario made sense.

“I don’t even know how it happened really, but somehow it turned into a contest about who could do more shots...”

“Oh Meggie” Ashlyn sighed and sat back with a sad shake of her head.

“I thought if I participated it would make it better. You know, I thought they’d be nicer about it or something. Then they just kept doing shots. And Tiff had weed” Meg rolled her eyes and groaned as she rubbed her face and shook her head at the same time. “But I wasn’t that drunk” her eyes grew large as she defended herself, looking at both women so they could see she was telling the truth. “And then...then you came home.”

“And what was the plan if we had come home after dinner?” Ashlyn challenged.

“I was hoping we’d all be sober by then. I mean, we were going to be sober by then, for sure. I would have made sure they stopped...” her face fell as she realized she wouldn’t have been able to gain control of her friends if she had waited longer. It would only have been more difficult.

“Which one of you would have been the one to get the kids out of the house if there had been a fire?” the blonde delivered the blow that she knew would land the hardest. It pained her to do it, but she had to make sure Meg understood how serious the situation really was. “Hmmm?” she prodded when she was met with regretful silence.

“What if one of them got hurt?” Ali finally chimed in, and Meg wasn’t sure if it was a good sign or a bad sign that the brunette was speaking to her again. “What if one of them got a cut that wouldn’t stop bleeding and they needed to go to the ER? Would you have put them all in the minivan and driven drunk to the hospital?”

“No! God no. I would never do that” she yelled and then dropped her voice to a whisper as she processed the terrifying possibilities.

Ashlyn and Ali exchanged a questioning look while Meg’s head was bowed. It was obvious that the redhead understood what she had done wrong and truly grasped the potential ramifications. It also seemed like it had not been her idea to drink or smoke that day. She had found herself in a tough position and, while she hadn’t made the best decisions, the situation certainly could have been worse without her attempts to limit the damage.

“Alright” Ashlyn reached for her knee again and gave it a squeeze. “I think you understand where we’re coming from and why we’re so upset about this, right?”

“I do. I swear to God, I do.”

“Ok. You’d better get back to the dorm then” Ashlyn stood up and gave the redhead a hug once she was on her feet too. “You’re sure you’re alright to drive?”

“Yeah, I’m good. I’ve been good for a while.”

“Here you go then” Ashlyn tried to hand Meg the $60 they had agreed on for her babysitting services, but the redhead wouldn’t take it.

“No way” she shook her head vigorously. “I’m pretty sure I owe you free babysitting for the rest of the year after today” she added sadly.

Ashlyn put the money back in her pocket, proud of her girl for doing the right thing, even after the tough conversation. Ali finally stood up and Meg looked awkwardly at her, clearly afraid of the wrath that was simmering beneath the surface.

“You’re really mad at me again, aren’t you?” the redhead asked sheepishly as she faced the brunette. She was 5” taller than Ali but she felt like the smallest molecule on the planet in that moment.

“I love you” Ali surprised them all by wrapping Meg up in a tight hug. “But I’m really really disappointed in you Meg. I don’t know what else to say right now. I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok” Meg choked out as they pulled apart. She was close to tears. It would have been so much easier if they had just yelled at her or punished her in some way. “I understand” she sniffled as she moved into the mudroom with Ashlyn and Ali both trailing behind her. “I don’t blame you either.”

“Drive safe” Ashlyn gave her another hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Text me when you get there.”

When they sat back down to finish their emails and reading, the two moms were quiet and pensive. An hour later Ashlyn got the text from Meg they had both been waiting for.

“She’s back at the dorm. Says she’s sorry again” Ashlyn shared the information with her wife.

“I didn’t mean to be so hard on her” Ali sighed, closing the laptop for the night and setting it on the coffee table. “I kept telling myself to say something to her. She was so sad and upset about it. But I just couldn’t think of anything to say that wasn’t worse than just not saying anything at all.”

“I know baby” Ashlyn moved closer to her wife and pulled her into a hug in the corner of the couch. “There was no good way to handle that. It was awful. I was so mad at her that I could barely look at her for a while there. It’s a good thing they all went upstairs for a few hours because I almost lost my shit on them.”

“I still can’t believe she did that” Ali shook her head. “She’s so good all the time, and then she lets something like this happen. Unbelievable.”

“Then I remember how dumb I was at 20” the keeper rolled her eyes and chuckled. “She’s 100 times better and smarter and more responsible than I ever was in my 20s. But she had to know what we were pissed about. I had to make sure she understood it.”

“You did a great job hon” Ali pressed a kiss into her keeper’s cheek. “I think we scared her enough so she’ll never make that mistake again. But she also knows we love her. I don’t think we can really ask for more than that.”

They were quiet for a couple of minutes as they thought some more about their eventful, stressful evening. Ali cuddled into Ashlyn’s side, playing with the strings of her hoodie on her chest. The keeper rubbed slow circles into her wife’s back while Logan whimpered in her sleep.

“What a day” Ali sighed.

“Well it wasn’t a total disaster.”

“Uh, did we have the same day?” the brunette chuckled.

“Yeah, it was bad for a few hours here this evening” Ashlyn grinned and Ali could practically hear it in her voice. “But I loved our date afternoon” she patted the brunette’s butt and laughed. “Especially the part where you weren’t wearing any pants.”

“Oh my God” Ali pulled back with mock horror on her face. “After everything – that’s what you’re thinking about?” she tried to keep a straight face but failed miserably, laughing along with her wife in a mere seconds.

“You look really good without pants” the keeper shrugged and grinned. “What can I say?”

“Don’t say anything” Ali tilted her head up towards the blonde’s. 

She felt so grateful for Ashlyn in that moment. All she wanted to do was put the stress behind them so they could try and find a way to go upstairs and fall asleep in a few minutes and the keeper seemed to know it instinctively. She could always make Ali laugh, often times when the brunette needed it the most. 

Ashlyn furrowed her brow in slight confusion that was more amusement than anything else. Ali smiled sweetly back at her, blinking and ducking her head just a tiny bit before asking softly. 

“Just kiss me.”


	5. April Doings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut warning at the end of the chapter

The following Sunday was Easter and the Krieger clan gathered at Sydney and Dom Dwyer’s house in Lynnfield as they had been doing for almost a decade. The NH Kriegers made an appearance, which was unusual for the Easter holiday, but they were eager to get a look at Koty and Brianna’s new bundle of joy. Baby Tori, now 7 weeks old, did not disappoint. She did all the adorable newborn baby things that made people’s hearts melt. The other attendees who didn’t normally make it to the Easter gathering were the Flanagans. Typically, Whitney and Ryan took the kids down to Long Island to spend Easter weekend with Ryan’s family. Since Tommy had started his ERT treatments they were less inclined to travel any farther than they absolutely had to. Both of their families understood completely and encouraged them to stay closer to home where Tommy would have easy access to his doctors should he need them. It had only been 2 months of treatments and his side effects were still anybody’s guess from week to week.

“How’re they holding up?” Sydney asked Ali as they stuffed a $5 bill and a $10 bill into the silver and golden egg respectively. 

They were huddled together in the master bathroom where Sydney had stashed the enormous garbage bag full of plastic eggs that had been filled with candy and tiny toys for the egg hunt. Dom, Ashlyn, Ken and Koty were the ones who went outside and hid all 200 of the eggs in a mixture of places that were hard enough for the older kids to find and enjoy, and those that were easy enough for the younger kids to have a fighting chance of discovering.

“Good, I think” Ali sighed as she snapped the silver egg shut and dropped it into the big plastic bag. “It’s hard to tell. You know Whit” she shared a knowing look with her bestie.

“Yeah, she keeps saying she’s ok and I don’t wanna push...”

“Right. It’s hard to know how helpful to be” the brunette continued. “Ash has been checking in with her a lot and I think she’ll know if we need to do something else.”

“Are you still taking Becca on treatment days every week?”

“Yeah” Ali nodded as a sad smile graced her face. “She’s getting used to the new schedule and it doesn’t faze her anymore. At least not that we can tell. Whit says she raves about it when she sees them the next day” her smile turned more upwards and Sydney returned it.

“That’s the best. She loves her aunties. And she loves Lily like crazy so she’s probably on cloud 9” the coach chuckled as she added the gold egg to the garbage bag and started to move towards the bathroom door with Ali following her. “You know I’m here if you, or they, need anything” Sydney turned to look at the brunette as she put her hand on the doorknob, ready to turn it and leave the room.

“I think they’re all set for now” Ali worked her brain over the last few conversations she’d had with Whitney and Ashlyn about Tommy’s treatments. “Unless you know a way to stop the side effects.”

“Bad headaches still?”

“MmmmHmmm” Ali nodded sadly. “And the rash. And it seems like he throws up every other time for some reason that nobody can figure out.”

“But it’s working? The treatment?” Sydney clarified as she tried to calm her anxiety. Even brash, cocky Sydney Rae Leroux Dwyer was weak when it came to having one of their group of kids battling a genetic disease that few people understood. There was fear in her eyes and Ali saw it right away. She knew she was probably the only one the coach could be this vulnerable with, besides Dom. “His organs aren’t getting damaged anymore, right?”

Ali reached out and squeezed her best friend’s arm, giving her a warm, reassuring smile. 

“It looks that way. All the tests say his body is able to break down the sugar molecules now so, yeah, the damage has stopped” the brunette explained. “He’s not getting any worse anymore.”

“I can’t wait to watch him start to get stronger. Poor little guy.”

“I know” Ali agreed with a hopeful smile. “Soon, I hope. Very soon.”

Sydney paused, awkwardly, and dropped her eyes. Ali felt her heart pound. Her best friend rarely adopted this uncomfortable demeanor, especially around her. Something big was bothering her and she didn’t know how to talk about it with Ali.

“Just say it. Whatever it is” the brunette’s own words housed anxiety now too. “Just spit it out.”

Sydney gave her a small, grateful grin. It was so great having someone who knew her so well, someone who loved her so completely regardless of anything else.

“Do they have enough money? For the treatments I mean” she stammered. “I know we don’t have nearly as much as they do, but I know the ERT is expensive...and if they need it, we’ll help as much as we can...”

Even with Dom’s promotion to director of the training department with the Revs and Breakers, the Dwyers were still the family that had the least income of their group. Niki and Molly Cross weren’t too far ahead of them though. There was talk of Niki getting promoted to head coach in the next couple of years and that would definitely bump up her salary a bit. Nothing too dramatic though – it was women’s college sports after all. The Flanagans and the Kriegers were the wealthiest of the four families and it wasn’t a secret.

“I think they’re ok” Ali shrugged. “I don’t know if Ash has talked to them about that or not. But we have really good insurance at work and I know it’s paying for part of the treatment process. Not all of it though...”

“Al, do you know how much each treatment costs?” Sydney quirked her eyebrow at the brunette.

“No, not really” Ali replied and felt like a jerk for not thinking much about Tommy’s illness from that angle. 

It made her painfully aware of the difference between she and Sydney’s financial situations. Again. It was a common theme between the two friends and it had been coming up their entire lives. She knew Sydney wasn’t judging her or being a bitch. The coach was just trying to educate her on something she had taken it upon herself to learn about.

“Each treatment is $900 a pop, and that’s just for the medicine – the enzyme treatment itself” her eyes were big. “It doesn’t include the equipment and tests and other prep stuff they have to do for each treatment.”

“The bloodtests and the antihistamine meds...” Ali started to rattle off the extra expenses involved every single week.

“Exactly” Sydney nodded, her face solemn. “They’re shelling out about $47,000 a year just for the enzyme medicine alone.”

“Holy shit” Ali exhaled, her eyes wide as she realized the additional cost for all of the extras could well approach that number itself.

The best friends stared at each other for a long minute.

“We don’t have a lot to offer...” Sydney began before Ali cut her off with another squeeze of her arm.

“I’ll look into it. I’ll talk to the insurance company and find out how much is covered” she nodded, trying to encourage herself as much as the concerned coach. “I think they’re ok, Whit and Ryan, but you’re right, we should make sure.”

The day went by quickly and with more than a few squabbles and snafus. The extra guests made everything just different enough to throw the routine off. It wasn’t a bad thing, it was just different and brought about some new situations for the extended family. The youngest NH Krieger kids, ranging in age from 4-1/2 to 11 and not counting little Allie who was almost 21, were eager to participate in the Easter egg hunt they had heard about for so long. They were more aggressive than the other kids had anticipated, and that was saying something because everybody who took part was competitive about their Easter eggs. Fisticuffs were avoided but hurtful words and foul looks were plentiful. In an attempt to distract everybody from the stress of competition, Sydney and Sandi ushered everyone back into the house to start the food portion of the day a little early. 

The bad news there was that some of the food had been left out on the counter and the dogs had gotten into a lot of it. Ziggy seemed to be the biggest offender based on the bits of ham and deviled eggs he had in his curly beard, but Peaches and Logan looked every bit as guilty. Only old Bandit, who had turned 12 just a few weeks earlier, seemed to have resisted the temptation. Ken Krieger knew it was because the dog’s hips were arthritic and he couldn’t get up to the counter height, but he wasn’t going to ruin old Bandit’s shining moment for him.

“How are the dogs even in here right now?!” Sydney asked in frustration, speaking to nobody in particular.

“Oh, well I thought it would be best to keep them inside so they didn’t knock any of the kids down” Aunt Becky shrugged. “I didn’t realize they were so poorly trained...”

“It’s a good thing there’s twice as much food still in the fridge that we can eat” Ken interrupted, giving his brother a stern glance at the same time that he opened the fridge to remind everyone that they weren’t going to starve.

The horrible hope that Aunt Becky would get old and die, or get old and senile so she might at least not be so bitchy, had not come to be. She was definitely old, turning 73 this year, but the old bat still had all of her faculties and that awful, sharp tongue of hers in fine working order. The only good thing that had happened as a result of her aging process was that she was a lot heavier. She had gained weight and it was harder for her to get around so she stayed mostly in one place for the duration, expecting her family to wait on her hand and foot. It was easier to avoid her now, if you were inclined to do so. Aunt Becky also got tired a lot easier because of how hard she had to work carrying around all of that extra weight, so the NH Kriegers left the family gatherings earlier than they ever had before. 

“I feel bad for Uncle Scott” Ashlyn admitted to Deb as they cleaned up the last of the dishes in the kitchen later that afternoon. 

Kyle was putting away the leftovers and added his two cents. “He and Dad are pretty close. Closer than any of us realize, I think” he looked to his mom to vouch for his statement.

“You’re right” she nodded. They were keeping their voices low but they needn’t have worried because all of the NH Kriegers were gone. “Now that they both have more time as retirees...” she couldn’t help but chuckle at how foreign that description of the two active men sounded.

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound right, still” Ashlyn laughed and shook her head.

“No it sure doesn’t” Deb agreed. “I can’t believe how old Becky and Scott look and then I look in the mirror and get the shock of my life” she raised her eyebrows up high and paused for effect. “I’m old too!” she laughed.

“The point is that they talk a lot more now and see each other more than they ever used to” Kyle got back to the subject of feeling bad for Uncle Scott. “We used to be lucky to see Uncle Scott once or twice a year, right?”

Both women nodded.

“Well he and Dad get together about once a month I think” Kyle explained. “They meet halfway and have lunch and do the two old farts thing...”

All three of them laughed and then tried to recover quickly when Ken walked into the kitchen.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, eyeing them suspiciously. 

“Nothing Daddy-o” Kyle grinned.

About an hour later, Ali was holding a sleeping baby Tori in the living room recliner, watching a soccer match on the big screen tv with Ryan, Dom, and Koty. Tommy was zonked out on the couch with his head in his dad’s lap and heavy snoring coming from his open mouth. His feet were resting in Dom’s lap because he had settled himself right across the two men when he had gotten tired. Koty sat on the other side of Dom trying to keep his mind on the soccer game they were all watching. In truth, he was having a hard time seeing Tommy looking so pale and sickly. The idea that your healthy 4-year old child could all of a sudden come down with some terrifying genetic disease had caused the new father many a sleepless night. 

Ali loved watching Ryan and Dom with the boy. Those two men had always been loving uncles or dads to all of the 4-family kids, without exception. The lesbian moms in the group had really won the lottery when they got Ryan and Dom for the men in their lives. Ryan was still everybody’s favorite because he was a giant and, honestly, Dom was a bit stricter with all the kids. That’s what happened when you were married to the free-spirited, laid-back Sydney – you had to be the tougher and stricter one most of the time.

“Believe it or not, he’s looking a lot better these days” Ryan’s level voice sounded, surprising them all a little bit. In true male fashion, they never took their eyes off the tv screen in front of them for more than a second here or there to glance quickly at one another as they talked. “I know you don’t see him very often though Koty so it’s probably a shock.”

“Oh, uh, I’m sorry man, I didn’t mean to be weird” Koty apologized, blushing. He appreciated the warm smile Ali gave him. 

“You’re not. Don’t worry” Ryan smiled at him too, sharing a quick moment of eye contact with the younger man. Koty would turn 33 later that summer while Ryan would hit the 45-year milestone. 

“Everything changes when you have one of your own eh?” Dom elbowed Koty lightly and grinned. “A whole new world of things you never thought about ever in your whole life...” he continued. “All of a sudden they hit you” he nodded. “It’s not just the baby that keeps you up at night is it?” he asked, keeping the mood light despite the weight of the topic in the room.

“No way” Koty’s eyes were big and he blew out a long breath that sounded like relief mixed with exhaustion. “I can’t imagine...” he stammered, unable to find words that would convey his thoughts without upsetting Ryan or anybody else. “I just...I think I’d go crazy if something ever happened to her” he paused and looked from his own sleeping child in Ali’s arms to the one sleeping across Ryan’s lap. “I don’t know how you do it man. It’s a kind of strength I’m pretty sure I don’t have” he rambled on, sincere but rattled.

“You’d do it just like we’re doing it” Ryan replied, careful to never leave Whitney out of the scenario. 

He knew deep down that he couldn’t do it without her and made no attempts to hide the fact from anybody. Whitney said the same thing about her husband though, making sure their friends and family knew how much she leaned on him during these challenging times with their young son.

“But...how do you even know...what to do?” 

All three older parents in the room remembered too well how frightening it was to be a new parent and they gave Koty sympathetic looks. Ali was ready to jump in if Ryan wasn’t willing to extend himself any further than he already had. But before she could even open her mouth, the tall man answered, smiling down at his dozing boy as he spoke.

“They’ll let you know what they need. It’ll usually be way too loud and repeated about 100 times” he chuckled, as did the others. “But she’ll let you know” he leaned forward and shook his head slightly as they all heard a particularly loud snore from Tommy and his not great lungs. “Like right now. Apparently, he needs to drool all over my leg like a Saint Bernard” he shrugged as they all laughed quietly. Ryan took another couple of seconds and then looked at Koty again. “The fact that you’re worried about being a good dad tells me that you’re already a great one. Try and relax into it. Give yourself a break. You’ve got this.”

//

Two weeks after that Easter Sunday was the long weekend with Patriots Day and the Boston Marathon on Monday April 19th. It had been a busy week for Ashlyn with the Breakers annual meet and greet event, followed by all sorts of publicity events throughout the city before the team travelled for their first game of the season. The thing that was the most stressful for both Ashlyn and Ali was putting Drew and Josie on a plane, by themselves, for the very first time in their young lives. April vacation began on Marathon Monday so the two moms drove the two ‘big kids’ into the airport and waited with them all through the security line, as long as they possibly could. They knew the kids would be ok. Drew was a month shy of 13 and Josie would be 11 in 2 months, but, more importantly, they were good kids. Josie was smart enough to keep them out of going to the wrong places, and Drew was old enough to keep them out of trouble, hopefully.

It was the age-old struggle both Ali and Ashlyn faced as moms. How do you manage four young kids who are four years apart among them? Do you hold the older kids back to accommodate the twins? Or do you drag the youngest ones along and hope they can keep up with the big kids? Neither option seemed ideal and both moms worried they were doing it wrong no matter which option they chose. Johnny and Lizzy Harris had both flown from Florida to Boston on a direct flight by themselves already. And Meg had done it herself when she was younger than Drew was now. It was all Chris Harris’ fault and Ashlyn made sure her brother knew how ticked-off she was about it. He had to go be his big, stupid, awesome uncle self and invite Drew and Josie to come down for April vacation, without their parents. He wanted to have all four kids but Ashlyn and Ali were both concerned about Drew being able to keep track of Dodge – even on a direct flight with nowhere for the younger boy to go.

In the end, after much debate and complaining from all four kids at one point or another, it was decided that the best option for everybody would be for the big kids to make their first solo flights while the twins stayed home to spend some quality time with their moms. Ali was a little miffed at first because she had been looking forward to some fun in the sun after a long winter. But she knew the trip would be good for Drew and Josie. It would be something they talked about for the rest of their lives if she knew Chris the way she thought she did. And of course the Harris and Lanier grandparents would spoil the kids like crazy and make their own precious memories. The twins learned that they had gotten a pretty sweet deal themselves. Dedicated one-on-one time with one of their moms every day for a whole week? That was also going to be a first. Ashlyn and Ali enjoyed it too, once they got used to how quiet the house felt with less than half of their kids in it. They had always felt like they shortchanged the twins because they didn’t have as much time to spend with them as they had spent with Josie and Drew. It was nonsense, of course, but it was very common for parents to feel that way. No kid got the attention of the first-born. It was just a fact of life that everybody had to learn to live with. To say Ali and Ashlyn worked hard that week to make up for those feelings of inequity between their first two babies and their last two would be an understatement.

By Friday of April vacation week, everything was running smoothly and everybody had adapted to new schedules and exciting new adventures both in Florida and in Gloucester. Ali had gone to the K-H office in Cambridge that morning to work. She had promised herself she would take most of the week off and she had done it, only going in to the office for part of the day Tuesday and then Friday. She was sitting at her desk in Ashlyn’s office and trying to concentrate on the budget proposal in front of her. It was only 10:30am and she needed to buckle down and focus so she could get out of there early and spend some more time with Dodge and Lily. Maybe she and Ashlyn could take them to a nighttime movie? That would be a fun change. She took a deep breath and told herself to get her shit together, but as soon as the long exhale finished, her phone dinged. She picked it up and smiled to see a message from her sweet wife. She frowned in confusion at the picture Ashlyn had sent her. It was an extreme close-up and she couldn’t make heads or tails out of it. She texted back, still furrowing her brow in concentration.

Ali: Hey you. <3 What is this? Did you mean to send this to somebody else?  
Allstar: Hey pretty! No I didn’t mean to send it to someone else. Lol. You have no idea how funny that is. Ha ha ha.  
Ali: What is it tho? Can you zoom out? It looks like a block of wood or something.   
Allstar: I don’t know how much I want to reveal just yet...  
Ali: ?? lol I’m so confused.  
Allstar: I know how you hate that. Ha ha. I just wanted to show you what I’m thinking about right now. That’s all...

The keeper didn’t provide any further answers and left Ali alone for another hour or so before texting her again. This time the camera was a little bit farther away from what was obviously a piece of wood. Ali could see the grain and thought it looked vaguely familiar. She thought idly about it all through her lunch break with Whitney and Marcy and Jen Tucker. She knew Ashlyn was home with the kids and couldn’t imagine what they were up to. Had she taken them to the ship building museum and found some cool old pieces of wood? 

It was just after 2pm when Ashlyn texted her again.

Allstar: Hey sugarplum. When you coming home? No pressure, just curious. Everything’s fine here.  
Ali: Ugh not soon enough. Hi babe. :) I miss you guys.  
Allstar: I’ve been thinking about you all day.   
Ali: Oh yeah? Good things? Or did I leave too many bras hanging in the bathroom again? Ha ha ha  
Allstar: I wouldn’t say they were good thoughts, no...  
Allstar: And I wish your bras were hanging around today...  
Ali: Ashlyn...are you flirting with me? <3  
Allstar: I guess not. If you have to ask...  
Ali: lol I’m trying to finish up here. Quit distracting me. Naughty girl.  
Allstar: Trying to be, but my hot wife keeps shutting me down. I’ll just have to try harder I guess.

There was a lengthy pause that grew so long that Ali assumed her keeper had gone to deal with something one of the kids needed. A full 10 minutes after her last text, Ashlyn was back.

Allstar: So...did you ever figure out that picture?

But Ali didn’t reply right away because she was on the phone with a client.

Allstar: I’ll take that as a no. lol. Here’s another pic...  
Allstar: Can’t stop thinking about you baby...

When Ali got off the phone 20 minutes later and checked her wife’s text she raised her eyebrows. The third picture finally explained what Ali had been looking at for the past 4 hours. It was the dark, beautiful, and delicately carved wooden box that housed the ben wa balls they had never used. Ashlyn had given them to Ali for Christmas 16 months ago in an effort to reclaim one final part of their sex life from Emily Quindlen. Ali had been upset about the gift at first but understood that her wife was trying to help them both put that part of their lives behind them, once and for all. They had talked about using them a couple of times since then but the brunette knew Ashlyn was letting her take the lead on it. Or so she thought. Apparently, the keeper was tired of waiting to start using them again. It was 3:15pm and as Ali sat there, staring at the picture of the closed box resting on their big bed, another text came in from Ashlyn. 

Allstar: Hey sexy...hope I didn’t make you mad. Or upset?  
Ali: Hey. Hi.  
Ali: You didn’t. You’re good. :)  
Allstar: Whew! You were making me sweat that out, weren’t you? Ha ha ha  
Ali: No! I just got stuck on the phone. I’m sorry babe. I’m not mad or upset. I promise. <3  
Allstar: Double whew then. Lol  
Allstar: Because I’m taking the kids up to your dad’s for the night. We’re leaving right now.  
Ali: What?  
Allstar: It was his idea but it’s the best damned idea I think he’s ever had. Ha. He’s taking the dog too.  
Ali: Well tonight just got a whole lot more exciting!

There was another pause, this one frustrated the brunette because she was already working on an inner countdown to get out of the office and head home to her gorgeous keeper. But she wanted to iron out a few details with Ashlyn first. Should she pick up dinner on the way home? Or stop at the grocery store so she could make Ashlyn a nice dinner? Ali called her wife’s cellphone but it went to voicemail. She sent two texts that went unanswered for another 5 agonizing minutes.

Allstar: Sorry baby. Had to get the kids in the Jeep. Can’t wait to see you.  
Allstar: I’ll grab dinner on my way home. Don’t worry about a thing. Just...come home as soon as you can, ok?  
Ali: Yes ma’am. I’m on my way. Damn. Whose idea was it to live all the way up in Gloucester again? Lol Ugh... ;)  
Allstar: Not sure who’s gonna have a more difficult drive to be honest. ;)  
Ali: ? Why will your drive be hard?

Ashlyn sent her wife one more picture at the next red light. She had been saving this one for maximum impact. 

Allstar: Cuz I took this pic right after lunch...

Ali felt her stomach flip and her core twitch at the same time as she looked at the picture. The beautiful carved box was open, and empty. A quiet moan escaped her lips and she felt wet heat between her legs as she imagined where the missing ben wa balls were. Ashlyn had been using them for over 3 hours already! Fuck, that was sexy as hell. 

Ali: Fuck babe...  
Allstar: Yes please  
Ali: I’ll be home soon. I’m coming...  
Allstar: Hey, I’ve been waiting for you, you better wait for me. ;)

When Ali finally burst through the mudroom door 45 minutes later, thankful to everything holy that it was vacation week so the traffic was practically non-existent, Ashlyn was standing at the kitchen counter by the fridge, unpacking take-out containers from a brown bag. The keeper heard the door slam and barely had time to turn around before Ali was on her. The brunette dropped her briefcase, purse and anything else in her hands to the floor as she moved through the mudroom and then pulled her keeper into a passionate kiss without a single word spoken. Ashlyn received her enthusiastically, arms wrapping around her tightly and hands roaming freely. It wasn’t frenzied, but it was urgent, from both of them. After a long few minutes of heated making out, Ali snaked her hand between their bodies and cupped her wife’s core. She was surprisingly gentle, given all the build up and desire that had filled the room, simply holding her hand against the crotch of Ashlyn’s jeans. But the contact, and the heat she felt emanating from within those jeans, made them both gasp and pull back from the energetic kiss.

“Jesus Christ...” the brunette groaned as she pressed her forehead into Ashlyn’s and closed her eyes. They were still wrapped up in an embrace and the keeper’s hand was clutching at her breast as they panted for breath together.

“Fuck Al...” Ashlyn’s voice was low and as desperate as the brunette had heard it in a while. She squeezed her legs together, Ali’s hand still in place between them, and whimpered as she felt her walls starting to lose their grip on the lower ben wa ball. “I can’t...”

Ali opened her eyes and saw the dark, hungry look in her wife’s as they stared hard at each other.

“Are they still in?” the brunette husked out, her voice dripping with want.

“MmmHmmm” Ashlyn nodded once, slowly. She felt the flat of her wife’s hand pressing up into her core and thought she was going to explode. She knew Ali could feel how wet she was, right through her jeans. “Barely...”

The brunette’s head spun at the idea of the ben wa balls inside her sexy wife. She felt a gush in her own center as her hand and then brain registered how wet Ashlyn was. Her crotch was soaked and Ali, for a moment, was paralyzed by the lust overwhelming her system. 

“Ashlyn...” was the only thing she could get her mouth to say. 

It was the only thought in her head. It was the only desire in her body. Ashlyn. The hottest woman she had ever met. The sexiest wife she could ever have dreamed of. The best fucking lover she could possibly imagine.

“I can’t...” the keeper struggled to speak, drowning in her own desire. “I can’t...make it upstairs...”

The throaty words snapped Ali out of her haze and helped her refocus. She kissed the blonde again, hard, biting her bottom lip before finally releasing her mouth after several seconds.

“I can’t wait that long anyway” she smirked at Ashlyn and pulled her away from the counter and into her own body, kissing her again and hissing as she felt the keeper’s fingers pinching her nipple harder than usual.

Ali led them, stumbling along in their embrace like drunkards, back to the couch in the family room. It was a challenge for Ashlyn to walk backwards, keeping the ben wa balls in place with the brunette’s hand pressing insistently between her legs. The family room couch hadn’t been what Ali had in mind when she thought about how and where she wanted to fuck her wife once she got home, but it would do. Their younger selves would probably have just made the kitchen floor work but not anymore. As much as they still loved having sex, anywhere, anytime...they had both been taking physical comfort more into consideration. Neither of them wanted sore knees or aching backs or bruised elbows if they could help it. At least not because of a hard or uncomfortable surface. If those resulted organically from their sexcapades then so be it. But they were always going for beds or couches whenever possible. They weren’t young, or dumb, anymore.

Ali pushed her wife down onto the couch lengthwise as they finally reached the arm of it. She watched Ashlyn’s body bounce while the keeper quickly brought both hands to her own crotch to try and keep things in place. Ali pushed the coffee table out of the way with her leg as she stared down at the gorgeous blonde and started to take her own clothes off. She went as slowly as she could, enjoying the way Ashlyn was focusing on the bare skin that was exposed. Ali never took her eyes off of her wife’s face the whole time she stripped, until she was completely naked in front of her. The keeper hadn’t moved anything except to turn her head to the right so she could see her wife better. Her hands were still clasped between her own legs and her chest rose and fell quickly as she tried to steady her breathing.

“Holy fuck, you’re incredible baby...fucking perfect...” Ashlyn whispered reverently as Ali stepped closer to her. 

“You will be too” the brunette grinned wickedly, “as soon as I get these clothes off of you.”

Ali bent over and pulled her wife’s long-sleeved t-shirt up and over her head, enjoying the whimper Ashlyn made when she had to move her hands from her crotch to do so. The brunette gave her a slow, sloppy kiss, still standing over her, and let her fingers find the stiff nipples that were trapped beneath her black bra. Ashlyn shivered at the contact and lifted her chest up for more. As soon as she did, Ali slipped her hands between her back and the couch and unhooked her bra. They kissed more as the brunette’s fingers went back to the pretty pink buds that were already hard, sensitive points. Ashlyn crossed her legs and pressed them together without even thinking about it. She was enjoying Ali’s mouth on her own and her fingers working their magic across her chest.

“I’m dying baby...please...” the keeper implored, locking eyes with her sexy wife as Ali side-stepped down the couch towards the jeans that were ruining all of her fun.

The brunette trailed her left hand down Ashlyn’s chest as she started to unbutton the jeans with her right hand. Ashlyn grew impatient and used both of her own hands to unbutton and unzip her pants, cursing softly at how difficult it was to scooch them down over her hips. Ali looked on with love and desire in her eyes as she moved to the arm of the couch where Ashlyn’s legs were dangling over.

“I’ve got you...Sugar...” she drawled as she grabbed a firm fistful of jeans in each hand, one at each of Ashlyn’s knees.

The crotch of the keeper’s jeans and boyshorts were so wet that they came off together in one mass of material as Ali tugged sharply on them. She was seconds away from the sweetest spot in the world, and what was left of the brunette’s patience had completely abandoned her. She grunted loudly as she pulled the jeans all the way off of Ashlyn’s long legs, satisfied, finally, with the open access to her wife’s glorious pussy.

“Oh...” Ashlyn moaned and then whined as she brought her hands back to her own crotch again. “Shit...”

She looked up to see her wife smirking down at her, with her whiskey-colored eyes so fucking dark now that Ashlyn felt like she could fall into them and never ever climb her way back out.

“You just saved me a step” Ali winked when she saw one of the ben wa balls slide out from between her keeper’s slick folds. “Always so fucking helpful, aren’t you?” she gave the blonde a devilish grin as she picked up the slippery ben wa ball and licked it clean. She moaned at the delicious taste and felt a gush between her own legs in response. “Fuck...”

Ali grabbed the light blanket from the back of the couch, folded it twice and then knelt on it right next to Ashlyn’s hips. She pulled the blonde up into a slouching position and dragged her butt right up to the front edge of the couch. The keeper’s passion was more than abundant and Ali sucked in a breath as she took in the sight of it dripping down towards her wife’s ass. Everything was so wet it glistened and the brunette had to steady herself again and fight off the sensation of being overwhelmed by it all.

“The couch...I’m so wet...” Ashlyn gasped out as she started to quiver in anticipation of her wife’s first touch.

It was true, they had jumped into this encounter with no preparation, other than Ashlyn stopping to bring Thai food home with her. There was no towel or Throw of Passion blanket to protect the couch. The blinds were still up and open, thankfully looking out to the empty lot and not a neighbor’s property. It was the third week of April so it wouldn’t be dark for another couple of hours so it wasn’t a big deal, but it was surprising for Ali to throw caution to the wind like that. Ashlyn knew her wife had closed the mudroom door but she wasn’t sure if she had locked it or not. So many steps they always took before having sex had been tossed by the wayside that afternoon. 

“I don’t fucking care about the couch” Ali replied with a rough urgency in her voice. “I just want to fuck you...” she growled as she spread her keeper’s legs out wide in front of her.

The brunette paused for the slightest moment as all of her powerful emotions surged around inside her body and mind. Ashlyn’s smoldering, aching, yearning eyes told her everything she wanted to know about whether or not the blonde was ready. Ali sat on her heels as she leaned forward and let her tongue take its first, broad stroke up through the promised land.

“Shit!” Ashlyn yelled. “Yes!” she added as she grabbed her wife’s dark head and pulled it tight against her throbbing pussy. “Please baby...I need you...”

Ali barely heard her keeper’s pleas though. She felt like she had ascended after finally partaking of Ashlyn’s sweetness. It had only been one lick of her folds but it felt, to both of them, like there was a live wire between them now.

“Mmmmmm...” the brunette hummed loudly as she pressed her face in, with Ashlyn’s help, and turned her head slowly from side to side. She sucked as hard as she could on all the sensitive flesh she could reach before doing it all over again, all the while mumbling and moaning.

After several minutes of sucking and licking while her hands played with pretty pink nipples, Ali pushed her strong tongue inside her wife’s pulsating center.

“Yes baby...yes...” the keeper arched her back and felt the ben wa ball that was still inside her start to move.

The brunette pressed her tongue against the smooth, weighted, stainless steel ball inside her wife’s pussy and felt her own body shiver at the sexy sensation. It had been a while since they had used ben wa balls and Ali was remembering just how fun and sexy they could be. She slowly pushed the ball up and pressed it down, then moved it from one side of her wife’s core to the other while Ashlyn writhed and squirmed in pleasure. Ali kept her eyes open as much as possible so she could watch the most gorgeous face in the world contort and twist in response to the incredible sensations she was giving her.

“So beautiful...so fucking gorgeous” the brunette moaned inside her wife, over and over again.

“Fuck” Ashlyn gasped after another few minutes of the delicious torture. “Take it out!”

Ali did as instructed and made a show out of sucking the whole ball into her mouth to clean it up before dropping it back into the palm of her own hand with a sultry smirk.

“You taste incredible baby” she pressed kisses into Ashlyn’s inner thigh and kept them going all the way up to her mound, licking up passion along the way. “Unfuckingbelievable...”

Ashlyn, spurred on by her sexy wife, snatched the ben wa ball from Ali’s palm and pulled the brunette up so she was standing on her knees in front of her. The keeper smashed their lips together in a heated, passionate, desperate kiss that lasted until they absolutely had to break for air. They panted over each other’s shoulder as their hands explored more soft flesh and they caught their breath. Ashlyn let her fingers find the dark curls between her wife’s legs and shuddered when she felt how wet Ali was. She didn’t think it was possible, but the brunette might have been more turned on than even she herself was! 

A thought started to form in the back of Ashlyn’s brain but she pushed it away as desire took over again. She used her long fingers to spread Ali’s lips apart and find her soaked entrance. Without even hesitating, she pushed the ben wa ball up inside the brunette as far as she could reach. Ali yelped in surprise and Ashlyn feared she had hurt her, but the guttural moan that quickly followed the surprised cry was all the answer she would ever need.

“Oh my fucking God...” the brunette purred as her chest heaved and her eyes rolled back up into her head.

“Ok baby?”

“Mmmmmm Hmmmmm...” she hummed her reply. “Love you...” she whimpered as she started to lose control of her body, “so much...”

Ashlyn could feel her wife’s body starting to turn into putty and knew she didn’t have much time if she was going to do what she had been thinking about all afternoon. The keeper stood up, pulling Ali with her and doing a lot of the work herself. She turned them around and lay Ali down on the couch, lengthwise, with her head up near the other arm by the window and wall. The brunette was gorgeous – her body shimmering and glowing from exertion and excitement. Her flushed face looked blissed out and desperate at the same time, switching from one strong emotion to the next in a heartbeat and depending entirely on how much body contact she was able to get with her sultry keeper.

“I need to feel you...” she begged as she pulled Ashlyn on top of her, letting her hungry arms and legs wrap themselves around the keeper’s body as they made out again.

Rubbing and pinching and licking and biting and squeezing all accompanied the long, slow kiss that left them both panting after several minutes. Both women were so worked up that they knew the next series of purposeful contact was going to push them over the edge. And they had barely touched each other’s clits or pussies yet. Ashlyn knew it was time and had to act before she herself got too lost in the moment to steer the last few steps. She got up on her knees, straddling the brunette who whined at the loss of contact.

“Nooooo...come back...” she pouted up at her keeper.

“I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”

Ashlyn carefully turned herself around as Ali kept her hands moving all over the creamy white skin she loved so much. The keeper wanted more room so she tossed the two couch cushions for the back of the couch to the ground and let her knees spread out more as she got them into the familiar 69 position. Ali was on the bottom, her face staring up into Ashlyn’s wet center and eagerly grabbing it down to her mouth. The keeper rested her body down on top of Ali’s and pulled the brunette’s legs up at the knees, her hands gripping the backs of her thighs firmly.

“Mmmm...so much better” Ali laughed, her voice raspy and low and full of want.

Ashlyn put her own mouth to work between her wife’s legs and quickly sucked in Ali’s clit, making them both moan in pleasure. She hesitated for one fleeting second before pushing two long fingers inside the brunette’s burning core. She felt the ben wa ball and used it to keep a delicious pressure on Ali’s g-spot, lifting it up and enjoying the pleasure-filled scream from the brunette.

“You like that?” Ashlyn asked hotly, increasing the pace and pressure with the ben wa ball. It was an awkward angle for her, scooping her fingers inside Ali below her and lifting them up as if she was Spiderman shooting his web. She knew her shoulder would ache later but every twinge would make her think of this sexy moment. The thought made her smile as she kept working.

“Unnnhhh...fuck yes!...more...more...” Ali gasped out as she plunged her own fingers into Ashlyn’s dripping pussy above her.

So much skin. So much passion, everywhere. So many tantalizing views and scents right in her face. Ali felt like she couldn’t possibly get close enough to her beautiful keeper. She wished for a second that she could crawl right up inside her wife’s silken walls, only then finding the closeness and satisfaction she was craving so desperately. 

They were both grunting and groaning and sweating as they pumped and pressed and sucked each other towards their release. 

“Be loud” Ashlyn panted out. “I want to hear you...”

Thankful for the reminder that they were utterly alone in the big old house and could be as loud as their lungs would let them, Ali howled out her passion. She moaned and whimpered and gasped and shouted with abandon as they both chased their impending orgasms. Ashlyn was louder than usual too, but she was drowned out by the brunette, and nothing could have made her happier. She loved listening to Ali when they had sex. It was fucking hot as hell and always got Ashlyn fired up.

“Fuck yes!” the brunette shouted, loving the feel of using her full lungs to tell Ashlyn just how turned on she was.

It was both the fastest and slowest 15 minutes of their lives as they finished their climbs together. Ashlyn let her mouth take care of the brunette’s clit while Ali used her other hand to rub her wife’s sensitive bundle of nerves as hard and fast as she could when it was finally time for the last big push. It felt like forever but then, when they were both finally shaking and twitching through their colossal orgasms, it seemed like it had happened in the span of 30 seconds.

“Ali!!!” Ashlyn grunted loudly as she came hard, just managing to keep the pressure going inside her wife’s pussy long enough for Ali to join her.

“Oh God, oh God, oh God...Yesssssss!!!!!!” the brunette screamed. 

She shot her leg out straight, hard and fast as usual, and Ashlyn expertly dodged it. The ben wa ball followed a similar journey, landing with a plop on the couch and rolling towards the front edge where Ali’s leg flailed around. They held each other through aftershocks and twitches as their bodies came back down from the incredible high. They were both spent. The long build up had been painful, but definitely worth it. Ali chuckled as she thought about her sexy wife spending most of the afternoon with the ben wa balls...and the twins.

“What could possibly be funny about that?” Ashlyn emphasized the last word and shot her wife a challenging look as she slid off of Ali, her back against the cushionless back of the couch now and her hands all over the brunette’s still-sensitive body. “Hmm?” she looked like she might really be miffed about Ali’s laughter.

“Oh no Allstar” she shook her head seriously and reached over to wrap an arm around Ashlyn’s thigh near her head. “That was a lot of things” she wagged her eyebrows, “but none of them were funny.” Ali raked her fingers through the short hairs covering her wife’s mound and moaned appreciatively at the feeling of Ashlyn so close to her.

“That’s more like it.” It was the keeper’s turn to chuckle and she did so while placing open-mouthed kisses up and down Ali’s thigh too. “I mean, I’m all for a good laugh, but...” she cocked her head and gave Ali a sultry look.

“No way babe” Ali shook her head again and smiled as she blinked softly back at her wife. “That was hot as fuck. I swear, I can’t...I just...wow...” she stammered, further proving the point.

“Alright then” Ashlyn nodded with a smirk. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

They were quiet for a minute before the keeper couldn’t resist anymore. “So what was funny then?”

“Oh” Ali laughed as they curled into each other, still head to thigh and very turned on. This could be one of those evenings where they just fucked on and off for hours at a time with nothing but snuggling and more soft caresses between rounds of lovemaking. “I was just thinking about you...” she gave her wife a lascivious grin, “with these...” she reached down to her right thigh and pulled the ben wa ball up, resting it in her belly button, “and the twins...” she laughed again, a hearty chuckle that came from deep in her throat and made her whole body shake.

Ashlyn joined her and they giggled and held each other close for a few minutes, letting their kisses and touches get more meaningful. The keeper rolled the ben wa ball around her wife’s stomach and lower abs as she spoke.

“Yeah, talk about multi-tasking” she rolled her eyes and giggled. “Thankfully they were happy to watch a movie with me so that took up a lot of time and I could be very still.”

“Ahh” Ali nodded her approval. “Genius plan.” She paused and gazed lovingly into those beautiful hazel eyes. “The whole thing...” she quirked her eyebrow at her wife and moved to hold Ashlyn’s hand and the ben wa ball together in her own hand at the same time, “was a good plan. Thank you Ash. I...it’s hard to tell you just how much I love you at times like this.”

They were quiet for another minute as Ashlyn gave her wife a sweet, lovestruck look, the very definition of heart eyes.

“You sure it was ok?” she asked hesitatingly. “I wasn’t sure...”

“Honey,” Ali sat up and pulled the top of her keeper’s torso and head into her lap, loving the way Ashlyn curled her legs around behind her back at the same time, the tops of Ashlyn’s thighs pressed into Ali’s lower back. “It was more than ok. You know I trust you. And thank God you’re always looking out for me here, like this, with these...” she played with the ben wa ball in the blonde’s open palm as it rested on the brunette’s upper thigh. “You take such good care of me babe. Honestly, thank you. So much.”

“You’re welcome” she blinked back sweetly. “I wanted you to do it on your own terms, in your own way...”

“But I took too fucking long, as usual” Ali rolled her eyes and let out a playful groan as she brushed the shaggy blonde hair back away from her favorite face.

“You can’t put a time limit on this stuff Al, you know that” she admonished as gently as she could. “It takes as long as it takes” she shrugged. “And sometimes it needs a little nudge” she winked.

“Ugh” Ali’s eyes registered alarm as her mind went someplace she didn’t want it to. “Please tell me you didn’t talk about this with Dr. Emerson...” she blushed and dropped her eyes in embarrassment. The brunette would never hold her wife back when it came to therapy, but sharing something so sexual and intimate with Dr. Emerson seemed terrifying so early in their relationship with the new therapist.

“What?” Ashlyn was genuinely confused for a few seconds. “No” she shook her head definitively. “No way. I swear” she reached out and lifted Ali’s chin up until their eyes met again. “Believe it or not, sometimes I can figure shit out all by myself” she teased, hoping to reassure the private brunette with a little self-deprecating humor.

It worked and Ali beamed back at her with equal parts relief and adoration.

“God I love you” she tenderly caressed the keeper’s cheek with the back of her hand.

They stared lovingly at each other and felt so many powerful emotions rise up between and around them. But it was all good. They’d been working hard on processing and handling the difficulties from the past couple of years and truly felt like they had come out the other side better, and stronger, and closer. They were in a very good place and wanted to do everything in their power to make sure they stayed there.

“Love me enough to spend the rest of the night naked with me?” the keeper wagged her eyebrows suggestively.

“Is that a real question?” Ali giggled. “I’d be pissed if we did anything other than that.” She leaned down to kiss her sweet wife’s lips before sitting back up again with a smirk on her face. “What piece of furniture should we ruin next?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good Lord, I am still swooning over that picture of Ali, Ashlyn, and Cassius cuddling in bed that Sydney posted for Ali's birthday last night. Wow. It's one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. <3


	6. Sober

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a long time since a single phrase has brought me so much joy and happiness. :)  
> "She's not invited."  
> I'd buy t-shirts and hats and mugs with that quote.

May 6th, 2032 was the 25th anniversary of Kyle Krieger’s sober date. There were times when he couldn’t believe he had gotten and stayed sober for that long. It had seemed impossible back in 2007 when he had first struggled to get clean. The idea that he could go even one day without drinking or doing drugs was laughable. He had been 6 weeks shy of his 24th birthday and terrified that he would fail miserably at sobriety. The only thought that frightened him more was that he would die some ignominious death while trying to get high. It had happened to so many of the people in his circle of self-destructive, narcissistic, fellow addicts that he had lost count of the victims. Back in February of 2006 Kyle overdosed and nearly died. That was the moment that Ali and everybody else in the family had always thought to be the turning point for him in his battle with addiction. The way the story went, Kyle od’d and realized he had to get clean and sober or die like so many of his druggie buddies. The truth of the events surrounding his actual epiphany came out very publicly when Kyle accepted an invitation to do a 15-minute TEDx talk at the University of NC in March of 2016. 

What Kyle hadn’t been completely honest with his family about was that it had taken one more brush with death to get him to stay on the sober path. One fateful night in April 2007 when he was at a party in Miami, he watched helplessly as another young man, only 19, overdosed and nearly died in his arms. Kyle had unknowingly given the partygoer the drugs that caused the overdose and then performed CPR on him to try and bring him back to life. Miraculously, Kyle got the young man’s heart beating again and was able to get him to the emergency room where he spent weeks in the ICU, and ultimately survived. The harrowing TEDx talk had been very popular at the time but had also provided a striking and stark look into Kyle’s nightmarish existence back in 2006 and 2007. ‘The night is always darkest before the dawn’ tattooed on his right arm, years later, commemorated his rock bottom in Miami that terrifying April night.

By 2006 Deb Krieger had begun spending time down in Miami with her soon-to-be second husband, Mike Christopher. She and Ken had divorced back in 1999 and she would marry Mike in December of 2007. In the meantime, Deb travelled from Ipswich, MA to Mike’s home in the suburbs of Miami as often as her schedule would allow. Kyle, supposedly changed and reformed after a stint in rehab, accompanied her for April vacation in 2007 and promptly fell back into his self-destructive habits and the Miami club scene. It had been during that week that his final brush with death had officially broken through the drugs and alcohol to help him clean up his act, once and for all. Kyle had nearly killed that young man in the strange, but oddly routine and familiar Miami mansion - after so many parties they all looked the same - then he brought the young man back to life. The whole experience, the idea that he had personally been responsible for almost ending the life of a 19-year old kid who was in Miami for spring break, had been the slap in the face that Kyle needed to change his own life.

Luckily for Kyle, he had stayed sober without any slip ups for 25 years. Although it hadn’t really been luck that had gotten him to May 6, 2032 without a single drop to drink or drug to do. His own hard work and determination were the reasons for his success. He had started drinking when he was 15 years old as a way to stop feeling all the scary emotions he didn’t know how to handle on his own. He had been gay and terrified. He was afraid of being different, of not being masculine enough, of not being the son he thought his father wanted and deserved. Back in 1998, when he was in high school trying to figure out where he fit in to his family and his community and his school in Ipswich, MA, there weren’t as many resources to get help as there were now in 2032. The work that Ashlyn had been doing with the Mental Health Initiative, among other groundbreaking groups doing similar work, had made it so much easier to talk about mental health now, but back then Kyle didn’t know what to do. He had no idea where to turn. 

But now, those closest to him, the other addicts in his recovery groups and his husband and his sister, were careful to remind him that it wasn’t fate or dumb luck that had carried him this far. Any time Kyle struggled and started to doubt himself or his situation or his sobriety, somebody close to him was there to make sure he knew that he was strong enough to keep going, to stay sober, to keep living the beautiful life he had built for himself over the past 25 years. It was only fitting that Kyle’s husband and sister were throwing an enormous party to celebrate his 25th sober anniversary. It would be held in a trendy but cool factory space in New York City that they both knew he loved, and it was going to be an event that friends and family had marked on their calendars for months in advance. Saturday May 8th was going to be one fabulous afternoon and evening and everybody knew it.

Ali and Nathan planned the whole thing perfectly. That is to say, it was perfect for Kyle. The party started in the afternoon so people with kids could bring them if they chose to. The party lasted into the wee hours of the morning too, for anybody who still felt like they wanted to dance their asses off, even though most of Kyle’s friends and family were in their 40s and older and wiser. Not that night though. That night everybody was young again, at least for a few hours. Instead of settling on just one theme for the party, Ali and Nathan mixed it up. The area where most of the games were set up was decorated in a superhero theme. The area for food and beverages, non-alcoholic only, was done up like Jurassic Park with dinosaurs everywhere. There was a glitzy Hollywood movie style section of the enormous space where guests could dress up in costume and film themselves. Ali was almost moved to tears when she realized that just about everyone who used that fun attraction had filmed some kind of loving or inspirational message for Kyle. That hadn’t been the intention of the activity, but leave it to Kyle’s friends to turn it into something so thoughtful and sweet. Some of the videos were downright raunchy though. Kyle’s friends were kind but they were also hysterical, bawdy, and provocative. One of the city’s hottest DJs was a friend of a friend of a friend of Kyle’s and had everybody dancing all night long. And absolutely nobody was surprised when Lady Gaga made her appearance halfway through the night either. 

There were some quieter spaces throughout the venue where partygoers could sit and rest and watch the variable levels of sober debauchery around them. Many of the people who had brought kids with them departed in the evening, before things got wild, and Kyle joked that it was time for him to go home and go to bed too. But there was no way that was happening. Ken and Vicki had already taken Edgar and Cristina back to the condo and there was no reason Kyle and Nathan couldn’t spend the entire night celebrating. They were staying in a hotel very near the party just for that reason. They wouldn’t be too drunk to get back home but Nathan wanted to pamper Kyle that night and spoil him with all of the nicest things he could think of. Fancy hotel room would be the perfect way to end the night for both of them. And better yet, they wouldn’t be hungover in the morning. Delicious breakfast in bed was something they were both looking forward to. More evidence that they weren’t youngsters anymore.

“I can’t believe your family came” Kyle shook his head and gave Ashlyn a surprised look as he sat down next to his sister-in-law on one of the couches near the game area. 

It was almost 11pm and Tammye, Carol, and Mike had just said their goodbyes as they left the party. Chris and Beth had brought their kids up too, but were already back at the hotel for the night. Lizzy, 12, and Johnny, almost 15, weren’t happy about having to leave, but they had an early flight back to Florida in the morning.

“They’re your family too you dope” Ashlyn elbowed him and laughed. “And they’re really fucking proud of you. If anybody can appreciate a sober anniversary, especially a 25 year one, it’s my family.” She gave his leg a pat and let him pull her into a side hug.

“Well, it means a lot to me. I told them how much it meant, but I never know if they believe me or not” he gave the keeper a shy smile. “Especially to have your dad here.”

“Yeah, he’s better about getting on a plane and leaving home than he was before – thank you grandchildren” she joked and they both laughed. “But this...” she looked around her at the big and busy party, full of every sort of different-looking person you could ever imagine, and shook her head...”let’s just say I know this wasn’t easy for him but he never hesitated. That’s how much you mean to him Ky.”

Kyle and Mike Harris’ odd friendship had only grown over the years. What had started back in 2018 with Kyle doing everything he could to keep Mike from falling off the wagon after Gram died, had evolved and deepened with time. Kyle had tried to be as helpful as he could while Mike dealt with his ex-wife finding love and marrying another woman. Mike had been there for Kyle too. He was still a man of few words, but that just made the ones he did use all the more impactful.

“Did I ever tell you about the time he threatened to kick my ass?” Kyle asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“Oh Jesus, now that would have been something to see” Ashlyn chuckled. “He’d have trouble catching you with his hip, but he’s stronger than he looks.”

“I know where you and Chris get your crazy strength from” he laughed back. “And Dodge too!”

“Please tell me you deserved whatever ass-kicking he promised you.”

“Oh I definitely did” Kyle took a breath and dropped his eyes for a few seconds.

Ashlyn could tell it had been something serious and her heart pounded as she waited for details. Part of her didn’t want to know any part of it, but the other half of her knew she’d die without hearing the story. Her overactive imagination would be working overtime for the rest of her life.

“It was three years ago, just a year after Chris got clean again” he nodded thoughtfully, trying to get the timing right. “I don’t know what the hell my problem was, but I got it in my head that...ugh, that Nate and the kids would be better off without me, you know, without me and my baggage” he glanced quickly at the blonde but she just nodded slowly as she watched and listened. “I wasn’t thinking about killing myself or anything” he added quickly. “I don’t know, I just was in a tough spot and I felt needy and gross and Nate and I had been fighting a lot...” he paused and took another breath. “And the kids were so hard” he shook his head sadly. “Ed was 9 and Cris was 7 and they were feeling really confident with us, in the family – you know it was all good stuff” he emphasized, realizing how selfish he sounded. “The more confident they got meant they knew they could trust us. They knew they could push against us and we wouldn’t just take them back to foster care...”

“I know” she gave him a small smile. “I get it.”

“Anyway, everything was hard, and I was messy and Nate was busy with the kids...”

“And Ali was dealing with crazy Emily Quindlen...” Ashlyn figured out the timing and saved him from having to say it himself.

Kyle’s face fell and he looked guilty as he nodded.

“Yeah, so you know...poor me” he rolled his eyes and shook his head again, filled with regret. “If anybody can turn something into their own personal melodrama – I’m your guy” he pointed his thumb at himself and groaned. “Anyway” he cleared his throat and continued, wondering if he should have even brought the story up in the first place. “I thought, stupidly, that Nate and the kids would be better off if I wasn’t there to add to the drama. I honestly thought I was being selfless, I swear. It felt like I was causing more stress and turmoil to our family than anything. If I left the situation then they might all be better off...”

“Well, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say” Ashlyn gave him a hard look. “And I’ve heard you say some really stupid shit...”

“I know, I know...” he squeezed her arm. “And that’s pretty much just what your dad said to me. That’s the point of this story.”

“You called my dad?”

“I did” he shrugged. “We talk about stuff like that sometimes and usually it’s about him and Lydia and sometimes your mom or Chris...”

“But this time you needed him” she smiled softly, realizing why Kyle was telling her this story in the first place. “And it helped? Talking to him?”

“It definitely did” Kyle laughed at the surprised look on Ashlyn’s face. “He’s just so pure and honest, at least with me anyway. He listened to me and then he asked me if I was done and then he told me I was being a complete idiot.”

“I’m sure he used different words than that” Ashlyn chuckled.

“That he did” Kyle laughed. “He got mad at me and told me just what I needed to hear. Sometimes you’ve gotta get the brutal truth, you know? Even if it hurts.”

They were quiet for a few minutes as they watched Sydney and Dom celebrating their team foosball win with a rowdy dance.

“Did he really threaten to fly up here and kick your ass?”

“Absolutely” Kyle nodded as they sat there for another quiet moment. 

“I remember your dad and Koty coming down to Chris’ intervention with you” Ashlyn’s face was serious and her voice full of emotion. “I’ll never forget that, and I’m pretty sure my dad won’t either.”

It had been enormously impactful for everybody, none the least of which had been Chris Harris, when Ken Krieger and Koty Wild dropped everything else going on in their busy lives to fly down to Satellite Beach in February of 2028. Ashlyn had known that the two men wanted to be there, very much. But for them to actually make the last-minute trip happen...well, it had always meant the world to the Harris family.

“That’s what families do, sis” he pulled her into another side hug and kissed her head.

“And that’s why we’re all here today for you” Ashlyn hugged him back, hard. “I love you. A lot” she gave him an extra squeeze. “And just so you know, if you ever need to talk...”

“I know” he cut her off, his voice low and emotional. “But you’re always too nice” he chuckled through his constricting throat. “When I kinda know I’m being an asshole, I need somebody to tell me loud and clear just how big of an asshole I am. And that’s not you Ash. Not for me anyway” he shrugged. “You’ve always been so good to me and so kind and so supportive...” he paused to try and get control of his voice so he could continue. “I know I can be...a lot” he chuckled and was happy to hear the blonde he held tightly to his chest do the same. “But you’ve never made me feel like it was too much. Not ever. And I can’t thank you enough for that.”

Ashlyn listened and nodded into her brother-in-law’s broad chest as he confided in her. She felt so much love and security and trust in Kyle in that moment that her heart ached. But, as it had been for the past 4-1/2 years, when she thought of the close, loving relationship she shared with Kyle, she couldn’t help but think about how Ali’s relationship with Chris had suffered instead. Ashlyn knew the two people who were closest to her heart, aside from her kids of course, were better than they had been after the Thanksgiving from Hell, but nowhere near where they used to be. It would always be something that caused the keeper sorrow and regret. She had a lot of regrets about that night but the distance and distrust and borderline hate that it had forced between Ali and Chris was at the top of the list. Maybe one day, someday, Ali and Chris could get back somewhere close to the way she and Kyle were now. But maybe not. Ashlyn was just grateful that they were both still trying. She closed her eyes and gave her brother-in-law another tight squeeze.

“You are a lot, but I love you” she shrugged into his chest before stabbing him with her strong finger and steeling her voice. “And you’d better fucking stay sober for at least another 25 years or I’ll kick your ass myself.”

A hot topic of debate among the extended families earlier in the day had been who would be celebrating their 25th sober anniversary next. Most of the Krieger and Harris family members, including kids, were eating dinner among the dinosaurs and enjoying being together, especially for such a wonderful occasion. The kids knew what was going on because both families talked openly about addiction in an effort to keep the next generation away from it. The younger kids didn’t always understand it but the older kids knew they could talk about it if they had questions. Koty and Brianna had brought the baby, eager to show her to Ashlyn’s family. Everybody was thrilled to have another baby to love and dote on. Tanner and Renee were both there too, lucky that the NE Revs were playing in NYC the next day. Every once in a great while the MLS schedule was a blessing instead of a curse. Nobody in the Krieger or Wild families ever complained about it though. They appreciated how lucky they were to have Tanner playing for NE in the first place instead of anywhere else in the country. Every single holiday or birthday or anniversary that he missed, Vicki just smiled and said, ‘at least he’s playing in Boston, that’s all I could ever ask for’. 

Sandi Leroux had made the trip with the Dwyers, her heart just as invested in Kyle’s recovery as anybody else’s had been, maybe more so. At the time, Deb Krieger had confided in her best friend Sandi just how worried she was about teenage Kyle. But there was nothing either woman could do to help him – aside from telling him he was loved and being there for him when he needed them. Neither woman could have known just how far off-course Kyle would veer. Sandi had been Deb’s most-trusted confidant as the Kriegers tried to navigate Kyle’s downward spiral. The usually parent-free Leroux house had been Kyle’s top target for abuse in high school. He went there to steal Sandi’s alcohol. Then he began hiding there to drink what he had just stolen. Then he upgraded to stealing money and anything else he could get his hands on to turn into money for alcohol and drugs. When Sandi changed the locks Kyle started manipulating Ali and Sydney so they would let him ‘hang out’ with them when they were there. Sandi Leroux loved Kyle like her own son and she had shared every bit of Deb’s heartbreak with her when he was arrested and put in jail for driving under the influence and crashing into a police barricade in Boston. Sandi was the one person Deb told everything about her out-of-control son. She was Deb’s sounding board as well as her source of strength sometimes back then. Sandi had also been one of the first people to whom Kyle had made his amends, knowing how much he had wronged her in his attempt to get high and numb the pain at any cost.

Kyle’s sober anniversary party had been a big draw for almost everybody in his life. Jared Kimball had made the drive down with he and Nathan’s mom, Iris. She was perhaps the one person Kyle felt the most self-conscious in front of, even after almost 11 years of marriage to her oldest son. The Kimballs hadn’t known Kyle when he was really messy because Nathan had cut off their friendship during that time. Kyle’s deepest fears of inadequacy sometimes came to light when he thought about measuring up to good, kind, morally-upstanding Nathan Kimball in Iris and Bill Kimball’s eyes. Sometimes Deb felt the same way with Iris. But the more they got to know the seemingly puritanical, old-school Yankee Kimballs, the more comfortable both Kyle and Deb became. Bill Kimball had been the warmer of the two, but Iris had melted so much over the years that none of it mattered anymore. She loved Kyle as her own and just as he was – which she thought was perfect for her oldest son. She found Kyle charming and funny and sweet. Iris Kimball would not have missed Kyle’s sober anniversary party for anything.

Even some of the younger NH Kriegers were in attendance which surprised everybody. Ali and Kyle’s cousins made the trip, leaving their kids and Uncle Scott and Aunt Becky behind, which was great news for everybody. Although Kyle was secretly hoping his friends and their flamboyant ‘lifestyle’ would scar Aunt Becky for the remainder of her bitter life. No such luck. 

“Wait, so who is next then?” Ali frowned as she tried to figure out the answer to what they all thought had been an easy enough question. Whose 25th sober anniversary was coming next?

“Well, let’s see...” Ashlyn pursed her lips as her brain worked on the problem. “Chris, you were the first one to get sober...”

“Yeah, but I messed it up” the big man shook his head. He didn’t look sad about it though. He had no choice but to accept what he had done so he could keep moving forward. “More than once. Geez Bash, I think I’m last now, right?” he looked around the group of tables for confirmation.

“You’re definitely last kiddo” Tammye laughed lightly. “But thank God you’ve got, what? 4 years and...”

“4 years, 2 months, 18 days” he nodded back, giving his mom a grateful grin.

Chris’ complicated journey to sobriety had taken many twists and turns since he had first gotten sober back in 2006. Ashlyn had been right. He had been the first of her family to get sober, followed by Mike in 2007 and then Tammye in April of 2008. Both Chris and Mike had fallen off the wagon numerous times but not Tammye. She, like Kyle, had forged her way through the tough times without a relapse. Nobody but Tammye could know just how difficult it had been, especially when you factored in her depression, but they all knew the woman had been through hell to get sober in the first place and was determined not to have to do that ever again. She always said ‘staying sober is a million times easier than getting sober, and it’s still hard as hell’.

“How many years did you have, before this last time?” Koty asked Chris, knowing that it was a tough question but wanting to hear the answer from the man himself anyway.

There were some nervous looks exchanged among the family members who didn’t talk about addiction much. Those that were closer to it never flinched because they knew talking about it was part of the solution.

“I got sober in 2006” Chris nodded and spoke clearly with a half-smile on his face.

“Mommy, what’s sober again?” practically 9-year old Lily asked, her innocence shining through like the brightest star in the night sky.

“It’s when you don’t drink alcohol or use drugs” Ali answered quickly and quietly but without making her daughter feel foolish for asking the question in the first place. “We’ll talk about it later, now just listen to the grown-ups for a few minutes.”

“But I never really did it right” Chris shrugged. “I was young and dumb. But then I got it right in 2011” he nodded again. “I was sober for 16 years before I screwed it up again.”

“Wow, 16 years” Koty’s voice was quieter than usual.

“How many years do you have now Koty?” Carol asked, already knowing the answer. 

She also knew that the young man would always feel guilty about the Christmas he ruined and the PTSD episode he had caused her on the kitchen floor of the big old house. She gave him a proud smile and appreciated the one he returned to her. 

“I’ve got 12-1/2 right now” he looked around the faces in his big group and took strength from the admiration and love found in them.

“Congrats man, that’s great” Chris grinned at him. “I knew you could do it. We all knew it.”

“I think you’re next Mom” Ashlyn spoke again, her face still scrunched up with the math and dates. “Or, I don’t know, is it you Beth?”

The two sober women looked at each other and smiled knowingly. Of course they had already discussed this. Two of the quietest people in the entire family sharing their own version of hell wasn’t something anybody expected them to do in a large group like this. Ashlyn regretted bringing attention to them as soon as she closed her mouth.

“Hey, what do I know?” the keeper tried to backtrack out of it but Beth cut in.

“It’s alright Ash. It’s good to talk about it, for all of us” she moved her eyes around all 6 addicts in their group. “Tammye’s next. She’ll have 25 years in April next year.”

The group clapped and cheered the next momentous milestone. Carol leaned over and kissed her wife’s cheek while Josie hugged her Gigi from the other side. She wasn’t exactly sure what was going on but she knew her grandmother had earned at least a hug.

“And then Beth is next” Tammye nodded at her daughter-in-law. “You’ve got 22 now, right?”

“I’ll have 22 years in September” Beth blushed a little at the attention as she answered. Everyone expected the conversation to move on but Beth continued in a rare moment of public candor. “I went out with friends to celebrate my 28th birthday in 2010. It turned into a 2-day bender and when I woke up” she scanned the youngest faces in their group and cleared her throat, “not where I should have been, I realized I didn’t want to live like that anymore. I realized I couldn’t go on living like that anymore so I got help.”

“And stayed clean and sober for 21 years, 7 months...” Mike nodded his admiration and approval as he tried to work out the dates in his head.

“I’ve had a lot of help” Beth smiled bashfully as she looked first to Tammye, then to Mike, then to Chris. “Couldn’t do it without these guys” she beamed at Johnny and Lizzy as her voice quavered. 

“Way to go Mom” Johnny called out and it was hard to tell if he was being facetious or sincere, until he blushed and tried to hide his deep emotions from everybody else.

“Thanks honey” Beth tried to meet her son’s eyes but he had ducked his head. She was grateful to see Mike Harris pull the high school freshman into a half-wrestle, half-hug.

“My hero” Chris added, looking earnestly at his wife. “She’s the only reason I’m even alive right now, I’ll tell you that.”

“Didn’t you guys meet at an AA meeting?” Kyle asked with a laugh. “I think that’s the best story ever” he grinned at Beth. “But I’m a sappy romantic so...” he shrugged and everybody laughed and teased.

“That is exactly how we met” Chris started to tell the story.

“Oh it is not, you big liar” Ashlyn called him out with a loud chuckle. “You had your eye on her as soon as she opened the shop up. You were just too chicken to talk to her.”

Both Mike and Tammye laughed out loud so everyone knew it was true.

“Fine, whatever” Chris continued through his own blush. “But we didn’t actually start talking until we found ourselves at the same meeting.”

“Aw, that is romantic” Brianna cooed.

“Yeah, I guess we made lemonade out of lemons” Beth added with her own small smile. “This guy was so sweet and shy I couldn’t help but think he was adorable.”

“Oh please” Ashlyn teased, rolling her eyes. “Do you know what this fool wanted to bring you on your first date?”

“Bash, don’t...” Chris groaned and buried his face in his big hands. “Come on...”

“Flowers!” she exclaimed and everybody cracked up. “I had to remind him that maybe the nice lady that owns the flower shop might not want a guy to give her flowers...”

“Oh hon, you didn’t...” Beth giggled, hearing the story for the very first time.

“Dude...” Tanner shook his head and laughed along with everybody else.

“Aw, but she thought he was adorable” Renee grinned and tilted her head, truly moved by the sweet but awkward story. “How sweet is that?”

“You’re sure you were sober Beth?” Carol teased, winking at her stepson and making everyone laugh again.

“Hey, listen” Chris straightened up and took control of the story again. “I’m adorable and you’re just all gonna have to deal with that” he pretended to pose, one side of his face first, then the other. He continued, meeting his wife’s gaze with a sincere smile on his face. “We met at an AA meeting and got to know each other. Then we started dating. Then, a year after that, she said yes, and then a year after that, we got married and she made me the happiest man in the world.”

It took a minute for everybody to settle down. Some of the kids who had been sitting with them got up and ran over to play more games as the talk lingered on.

“How about you Mike?” Nathan asked the man who had forged a special bond with his husband that not many people knew about or completely understood.

“Yeah Pop, when can we do one of these 25-year parties for you?” Ashlyn encouraged. 

“I seem to have rubbed off on my son” he looked right at Chris and gave him a sad smile. “Sorry about that Bubba.”

“Love you Pop” Chris nodded and smiled at the man who had taught him so many things, both good and bad.

“I got sober in 2007” Mike offered the dates as facts, speaking succinctly and without any details. “It didn’t stick until 2014. May of 2014.”

“So we should be celebrating you and your 18 years right now!” Kyle announced. “Yes!”

“No, no” Mike shook his head, a stern look on his face. “I’ll walk out of here if you pull that” he challenged Kyle gruffly.

“Oh fine” Kyle rolled his eyes. “We’ll just celebrate it right now real quick, just us” he looked around the group. “Then we won’t talk about it again, ok?”

Before Mike could object, Kyle stood up and conducted the group with his arms out wide. They all gave Mike a quiet cheer and some subdued applause while Johnny and Ali, seated on either side of him, hugged and kissed him. The Harris family patriarch got choked up but accepted the love thrown his way, pulling Johnny and Ali into a big hug so he could hide his emotional face. The truth was, being there that night with his family for this kind of occasion was one of the most meaningful things Mike Harris could imagine. He was proud as hell of Kyle, of course, but he was just as proud of Chris for his 4+ years and everybody else in between. 

25 years of sobriety was a monumental achievement. It was something all 6 of the addicts in the group aspired to, except Kyle who had already gotten there. But he was ready to help all of the others join him there, any way that he could. The people in that group of extended family had all suffered from the trials and traumas of loving an addict. Hearts had been broken and souls had been crushed. But family and love and support had ultimately prevailed. Chris’ latest fuck-up was another example of how the group wasn’t going to just let somebody destroy themselves. There was always going to be an addict in their group that was struggling with some part of their lives. That was just life. But there was always going to be an addict in their group who was ready, willing and able to help pull them through the struggle, by any means necessary. There was something truly empowering about that and the whole family knew how lucky they all were, addicts and non-addicts alike. Each family had been strong on its own, no doubt. But when the Kriegers and the Harrises had formed one big family, well, the strength had simply doubled. The truth was that every single day that an addict stayed clean and sober was a monumental milestone. And the day somebody forgot that would be a terrible day indeed. The Kriegers and the Harrises and the Wilds and the Laniers and the Christophers and the Dwyers and the Lerouxs and the Petersons and the Kimballs were never going to take a single sober day for granted. They knew how hard they were to come by and how devastating they were to lose.

“Well here’s to sobriety then” Ken cleared his throat and lifted his can of Sprite up in a toast, nodding at the different addicts around the group as he spoke. “18 years, and 24 years, and 12-1/2 years, and 22 years, and 4 years, and 25 years” he smiled broadly at his son as he finished the sentence. “We thank you for fighting hard to hang on to it” he cleared his throat again as he got choked up and tried to cover up the waver in his voice. “We love you all and we want you here with us, forever, so please keep on fighting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. So I really wanted to like Jill Ellis. She's gay and out and that alone is enough to make me love people. lol. I defended her for a very long time. Long after she benched Ali and started looking for some mythical right back that doesn't exist. But there were so many dumb things Ellis did as coach that I couldn't defend her anymore (Allie Long as center back, playing Rose Lavelle on a sore hamstring and breaking her - twice!, playing Sam Mewis and Becky Sauerbrunn for an entire year solid until they both suffered injuries, making Carli a captain - I have no problem with Carli but she's not captain material, taking away Sauerbrunn's captaincy, refusing to start Christen Press or play her WITH Alex Morgan ever, I could go on and on...). The last straw for me was the way she mistreated Ali in 2017, calling her up and not giving her a single minute in all 3 tournament games that Spring - and with the last one in her hometown of Washington DC. It was just too much for me. I can't argue with Jill's record. Stats don't lie when it comes to coaches and wins/losses. But I think she's getting more credit than she deserves for both World Cup wins. The players, those badass players, are what's special about the team. I will give her credit for being a decent human and, from what I've heard and read, a good and professional person when it came to doing the public part of her job. She was and is one of the few female coaches at her level and certainly the most successful. Jill deserves credit for not fucking things up too much (notable exception was the total coaching disaster Rio Olympics 2016). But that's really it. She was lucky to have such tremendous athletes and women to work with. Goodbye bitch. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.


	7. MPS Awareness Day

The following weekend was a busy one. The twins 9th birthday was Thursday May 13th, and they celebrated with a big party on Sunday the 16th with all of their friends from school and most of the four-family members, and of course, their own big family. Deb and Mike Christopher stayed in NYC with Kyle’s family for the first half of the week and were at the big old house for family birthday dinner and cake on the 13th. Chris and Beth took their kids back to Satellite Beach the morning after Kyle’s big party but Mike, Tammye and Carol all went up to Gloucester with Ashlyn and Ali for the week. Mike stayed at the big old house while Tammye and Carol went to the beach house in Rockport they had been renting off and on for years. This May, for the very first time, they went to the house as new owners so Ashlyn and Ali and Deb had arranged a little housewarming brunch for them Saturday morning, May 15th. 

Tammye and Carol had been renting the house, or different ones in the same neighborhood, for years and they had made some friends during that time. It was hard to imagine someone as friendly and personable as Carol living any other way. Tammye could be shy, and often was, but not Carol. She was a lot like Deb in terms of their natural charm and affability. The general plan was for the Laniers to spend most of the summer in their Rockport beach house, along with several other visits throughout the year. If they found they weren’t using the house as much as they anticipated, they would consider renting it out. But they really didn’t think that was going to be the case. It wasn’t nearly as big or nice as their primary home on the beach back in Florida, but it would do nicely for the retirees.

Ashlyn and Ali were more than happy to have another pair of grandparents available to help with the kids. That wasn’t the only reason, obviously, but it was a big one and they wouldn’t deny it. It was a win-win situation because the kids loved having Gigi and Caro around and the grandmas loved spending time with their Massachusetts grandbabies.

After brunch on Saturday, Ali and Ashlyn took their kids into Boston to cheer on the runners for the Charity 5k race to benefit MPS, Mucopolysaccharidosis, in all its forms. May 15th was MPS Awareness Day and the Boston chapter hosted all of the MPS families at the annual event. The charity sport or activity changed from year to year, sometimes a run like this year, sometimes an obstacle course, sometimes a talent show, sometimes a softball or soccer game. Whitney and Ryan Flanagan had been part of the Boston MPS chapter since Tommy started getting his treatments back at the beginning of February. It had been a whirlwind of a 3-1/2 months, but the Flanagans were finally starting to settle into a rhythm with Tommy and his disease and the treatment. They had found the other parents in the chapter to be welcoming and encouraging and uplifting. Whitney and Ryan needed all of that and more as they adjusted to their new normal and tried to make sure both their kids were getting what they needed from their parents.

It hadn’t been easy for either Whitney or Ryan. As Ashlyn parked the minivan in the Knight-Harris lot and helped Ali get the kids and their crap out of it so they could walk up to the T-station for the short subway ride to the MPS event, she couldn’t help but think about a desperate call she had gotten from her best friend one Saturday in April.

“I can’t believe he just left...” Whitney sat with tears in her red, puffy eyes.

“What do you mean he left?” Ashlyn frowned as she knelt down next to her best friend who was curled into the end of the couch in her Winchester home. “When? For how long?”

“Friday” she whimpered.

“Yesterday?!” the keeper clarified, irked that her bestie had been suffering for an entire day without telling her or asking for help. 

“He made sure Tommy was ok after Wednesday’s treatment” Whitney blew her nose. “Then yesterday after lunch he said he needed to get away...”

“Where did he go? When’s he coming back?” Ashlyn felt herself starting to panic.

“I don’t know” Whitney blubbered, letting her body give in to the convulsive, wracking sobs.

It took the lawyer falling apart like that, which she never did, to snap Ashlyn to attention. She was making it worse, not helping. Be strong for Whit, stay steady, reassure her, help her, take care of the kids for her so she can fall apart if she needs to. She could practically hear Ali’s voice in her head, guiding her through what to do next. It used to be Gram’s voice that she heard in times like that, but now it was her beautiful brunette gently pushing her in the right direction. The thought didn’t make her sad, surprisingly. It felt...right. Ashlyn sat next to Whitney on the couch and let her cry herself out for almost 20 minutes. She rubbed her bestie’s back and held her, feeding her Kleenex when she needed them. After learning that Tommy was upstairs sleeping, child monitor on with receiver on the coffee table in front of them, and Becca was at her best friend’s house for a playdate that Saturday after their softball game in the morning, Ashlyn got Whitney to relax. Once it was clear to the keeper that nothing life threatening was going on in that moment, she calmed down and started to process what Whitney had said about Ryan leaving. If anybody knew about disappearing for a day or two now and then, it was Ashlyn. With fresh, hot cups of tea in front of them, the two friends watched a soccer game on tv and sat and talked. It felt, oddly, like being back in the apartment they had shared during Ashlyn’s first Breakers season. It felt completely normal and like home for both of them.

“You know, I can’t say I know exactly what Ryan’s feeling right now, but I can tell you I’ve felt like I had to get away before” the keeper spoke slowly and surely as their eyes followed the soccer ball on the big tv in front of them. “I know it doesn’t come close to comparing to what you guys are living with right now, but when I was having a tough time, sometimes I felt like...like I couldn’t breathe.” She paused to collect her thoughts again, even though she thought she knew exactly what she wanted to say. “It’s hard to describe. But there was nothing that could keep me there, no matter how much I wanted to stay. The panic...the needing to breathe...it always won, no matter what.”

“Is that what you think he’s doing? Just clearing his head or...breathing...or whatever?” Whitney’s voice was as fragile and tiny as Ashlyn had ever heard it and it broke her heart.

“Maybe” she didn’t want to lie or give her best friend false hope. “I really don’t know for sure. But Whit, this is Ryan we’re talking about. He’s a good guy, one of the very best I’ve ever known. I’m sure he’s gotta do...whatever it is he’s doing, or else he’d be here.”

They were both quiet for a few minutes and Ashlyn felt like she had dropped the ball. She doubted herself for not just telling Whitney what she thought she needed to hear.

“You remember the first time I disappeared on Ali?”

“Yeah” Whitney nodded and turned to look at the keeper. “After the Orlando game. You stayed behind, at Gram’s, and Ali lost her mind trying to reach you...”

“Yeah, that’s the one” Ashlyn groaned as the guilt washed over her anew, as if it had just happened yesterday instead of almost 16 years ago. “I loved her so much, I was so madly in love with her that I would rather die than hurt her. Remember?”

“God, yes” the lawyer chuckled and rolled her eyes before giving her best friend a small smile. “You two were disgusting but awesome at the same time.”

“Well, as much as I loved her and would do anything not to hurt her...I hurt her a lot that day. All because I was too afraid to pick up the phone. All because I couldn’t deal with life anymore for a while. It was awful and it was a shitty thing to do to anybody, forget about someone I loved so much.” She looked down, still ashamed after all the years had gone by. “I don’t know what Ry has going on in his head right now” she shook her head carefully, not wanting to make excuses for the man she wanted to break in half herself. “But I know he doesn’t mean to hurt you or scare you or make things harder for you. When he comes back I’m gonna talk to him and see if I can get him to talk to a therapist...”

“I’ve tried” Whitney admitted softly. “I started going back in February, just to...I don’t know, try and stay ahead of it I guess. But he won’t go.”

“Well, I’m gonna talk to him anyway” Ashlyn patted her friend’s leg reassuringly. “From one disappearer to another.”

Another cloud of quiet surrounded them but this one felt better. Ashlyn could tell Whitney was feeling stronger and more like herself.

“Have you disappeared on Ali lately?” Whitney asked quietly.

“No” the keeper shook her head and sighed heavily. “Thank God” she chuckled, even though it wasn’t a funny topic. “But that’s because I go see a therapist who’s taught me how to deal with those feelings I get that make me wanna run away and hide or disappear.”

“Is it the PTSD stuff mostly?”

“Mostly, but not all of it” Ashlyn shrugged. “Life is hard. You know that better than anyone” she gave Whitney a little grin. “The last couple of years have been really hard for us, me and Ali, and I didn’t always handle it very well...”

“But neither did she...”

“No” Ashlyn smiled, loving her friend for defending her even when it wasn’t necessary. “But she never once disappeared on me either. Even with all the bullshit she had to deal with from Emily and their past and... ugh” Ashlyn shook her head and closed her eyes, trying to shake all of that crap out of it. 

“I’m sorry Ash. I don’t mean to take you back there...”

“No, that’s not it. You’re good, I promise” they shared a soft, understanding nod. “Neither of us is perfect but Ali never runs away.” The keeper chose not to bring up the brunette’s bad habit of literally running away from her way back when they had their first embarrassing unofficial meeting. She had run out of the Breakers meet and greet shortly thereafter too. But that had been the last of it. Twice and done and never again. “She’s so solid and steady and I just know I can always count on her, no matter what. And you’re the exact same way.”

“I used to think Ryan was the solid one in our marriage” the lawyer said after a slight pause. “Now, I’m not so sure.”

“You don’t know yet though. This could be a one-time thing, right? I mean, who could blame either one of you for needing to get the hell out of town right now? This is some scary shit and you’re handling it like fucking rockstars Whit. Everybody knows it and admires you guys for it. But who knows?” she shrugged. “Maybe you’ll need to take off for a couple of days at some point too. This is all new territory. This isn’t just regular marriage stuff. This is the two of you trying to learn how to take care of your sick kid stuff. This is different.”

“I hope so.”

“Well, I’m not gonna worry until he misses the dinner call. If he misses that tonight? then I’ll worry.”

“You think he’ll call?” Whitney’s eyes had so much hope in them it made Ashlyn suck in an anxious breath before replying.

“I do” she nodded definitively. “That’s always his time, right? When he’s on the road with the team, whether it’s a game day or an off day, he always calls around dinner time to connect with you and the kids. My money’s on that.”

“You seem pretty sure about it. How come?” Whitney wasn’t as much suspicious as she was curious and envious of Ashlyn’s optimism.

“This is the same guy who took notes about how to take care of you after you had your babies” the keeper grinned at the sweet memories. “Both times!”

“He did?”

“He most definitely did” Ashlyn smiled at her surprised best friend. “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but this seems like a good time to make an exception.”

The keeper spent the next ten minutes telling Whitney the story of how she talked to Ryan about helping Whitney after each birth, the first being natural delivery and the second being c-section. 

“He really took notes in his phone?” the lawyer’s jaw dropped.

“I swear to God Whit. I don’t think I’ve ever loved him more than I did those two nights” she chuckled. “He’s a good guy. He might need someone to point him in the right direction sometimes, but it’s not because he doesn’t care. He just doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, you know? It’s a guy thing, I think” she shrugged again. “They think somebody’s going to tell them what they need to know or something, I don’t know.”

Tommy’s labored breathing and wheezing and then soft crying came through the monitor and Ashlyn’s eyes lit up. He would be turning 5 in June but his body was so tired from working so hard to live and to make it through the enzyme replacement treatments, that he napped almost every afternoon again.

“Yes, you can get him” Whitney smiled at her bestie who jumped up off the couch in excitement. “Make sure you bring down his inhaler, and...never mind, I’ll just do it” she sighed heavily at the idea of having to explain everything instead of just doing it herself. It was too much energy.

“No Whit” Ashlyn shook her head. “Just tell me again” she pulled out her phone and started a new note for things Tommy needs after a nap. “I’ll remember next time.”

As she rode the train with Ali and the kids that day in May, the keeper grinned at the memory, which turned out to be a sweet one because Ryan had indeed called Whitney at dinner time and it had been the first step towards getting them both more involved in the support groups offered by the local MPS chapter. Talking to other parents who were going through the exact same things you were, or worse for the kids with more severe forms of MPS, was the best medicine possible for weary, desperate Ryan and Whitney. It had only been about a month since Ryan’s disappearing weekend, but Ashlyn knew it would never happen again. She had told him her story which had encouraged him to go with Whitney to the support group. It was never going to be easy, but the keeper knew Ryan and Whitney would find a way to fight for each other and for their family, no matter what life threw at them.

As MPS Awareness Day wore on, Tommy got tired and fussy and Ashlyn asked if she could take him home to Winchester so the rest of the Flanagans didn’t have to leave early. She and Whitney both knew how important it was for Ryan and Becca to make their own friends in that community because they had talked about it at length together. Cutting their day short would only make that goal more difficult to achieve.

“Are you sure?” Whitney questioned one last time after agreeing to the plan and walking with Ashlyn and Tommy to the car waiting for them a block away from the event.

“Positive” the keeper grinned back at her. “I’ve got my notes” she patted her phone in the pocket of her shorts, “and if something comes up I’ll just call you. I promise.”

Whitney knew that Tommy just needed a nap and that Ashlyn was more than capable of taking care of him. In fact, there weren’t many people she’d choose before her best friend to take care of her sick son. It would be a toss up between she and Ali but she would never admit that to Ashlyn.

“Ok, we won’t be much longer I don’t think...”

“Stay and have fun. Kick Ali’s butt at one of the carnival games for me, will ya?” they both laughed at that and then the car pulled away and Whitney returned to the festivities, feeling lighter than she had in weeks.

When Ryan drove Ashlyn back up to Gloucester later that evening, their friendly, familiar banter fell away as they turned onto Beach Rd. They hadn’t had another heart to heart since the big one after Ryan’s April disappearance almost a month ago.

“So...I just wanted to thank you again” Ryan began nervously.

“No problem” Ashlyn replied, knowing she wasn’t talking about what he was talking about but trying to show him that they didn’t need to talk about it again. “We both had a nice nap, best Saturday afternoon in a long time. The only thing missing was a dog. Rusty is awesome, for a cat” she gave him some side-eye and lowered her voice. “But we’ve gotta get you guys a dog.”

“No, Ash...”

“Listen, Ry – I know what you’re trying to say and you don’t have to say it. I’ve been there and trust me, bringing it up again and again just makes you feel more guilty, at least that’s how it was with me.”

“Yeah” he swallowed hard as he turned into the driveway of the big old house. “I’ll have to trust you on that I guess.”

“Trust me. You’ll hate yourself for a long time for leaving like that. I still feel guilty about it. But you’re the only one who thinks you need to keep apologizing. I promise.”

“Thanks Ash. I mean it...I really appreciate you. I love you a lot...”

“I love you too you big dummy” she fought off tears as she hugged the man she had truly come to love as a brother. “You stay strong now, you hear me? Don’t let your pride get in the way.”

“I won’t. I promise” he swore from inside the hug.

“You call me...whenever you need to.”

“I will.”

Ashlyn pretended she needed to get something from inside the garage before going into the big old house as Ryan backed out of the driveway, but she was just stalling for time. She needed to pull herself together after the emotions of the day had taken a heavy toll on her. Seeing all of the kids with the more severe form of MPS I, as well as the kids with MPS II, III, and IV which were all drastically worse than both forms of MPS I, had crushed Ashlyn’s soul. Part of the reason she wanted so desperately to take Tommy home was because she wanted to get the hell out of there. She was ashamed to admit it and hoped nobody would call her on it if they figured it out. Ashlyn’s soft heart was working overtime trying to get through Tommy Flanagan’s reality. It couldn’t handle everything else, all of those other kids, too. It just couldn’t. Ali did her best to try and focus on the positives when it came to Tommy because she knew her wife was struggling with the diagnosis and long-term prognosis, even though it was as good as you could hope for. Ashlyn was having a hard time blocking out all the can’ts and won’t be able tos that Tommy would face for the rest of his life.

She bent over in the cool of the garage with her hands on her knees and her tears falling freely. It was 7:45pm and she knew Ali was in the middle of shower time with the twins. If she hurried, she could get upstairs in time to snuggle with them while Ali read a chapter from their story book. The twins’ birthday party was the next day so everybody wanted to get a good night’s sleep for the big day. 

“Mama!” Josie yelled when Ashlyn climbed the front stairs to the second floor 15 minutes later. 

The redhead was twirling naked down the hallway, fresh out of the master bathroom shower and on her way to her bedroom at the front of the house to get into her jammies. Lily, also naked, led Logan out of the girls’ bathroom with a toilet paper scarf around both their necks and one of her own plastic tiaras on top of the dog’s broad, dark head. Ali stuck her head out of Dodge’s bedroom with a concerned half-smile on her worried face. The two women locked eyes for a few seconds and the brunette could see the pain inside the hazel despite the growing smile on Ashlyn’s lips. She knew her keeper was hurting and that the love from the kids would make her feel better. It always did, but it took time. 

“Hey, you guys get dressed and how about we do stories on the big bed tonight?” the brunette proposed, knowing that if she could literally surround Ashlyn with love from the kids it would help ease her pain faster. 

“Yeah!!!” all three small but loud voices echoed throughout the hallway. 

Dodge came sprinting down the hall, still very wet from his shower in the boys’ bathroom that had just ended while Ali was talking, and gave his Mama a bodyslam hug around her legs and waist. If she hadn’t seen it coming and prepared for it, they might have both toppled over backwards down the stairs. But the keeper welcomed it. She bent over and held him as close as possible, not giving his wet naked skin a second thought. Ali felt her heart tug as she watched the sweet interaction. She picked up Dodge’s towel from the floor where he had just dropped it before dashing into the hall and walked towards her wife. The brunette rubbed Ashlyn’s back as she was hunched over Dodge and kissed her on the head.

“Hi honey. I’m glad you’re home” Ali’s voice was soft and full of love. “We missed you.”

“Me too” the keeper turned her head to look at her beautiful brunette and gave her a watery smile. “I love you guys so much.”

It took another several minutes to get everybody jammied up and onto Ali and Ashlyn’s bed. Logan whined from the floor next to Ali’s nightstand but was told there wasn’t enough room. Drew had joined them, which was uncommon but not completely rare. It had been an emotional day for all of them, apparently. And the kids had asked Ali lots of questions on the drive home. Lily hopped off the bed at the very last minute and raced into her room to fetch one more absolutely essential stuffed animal for story time. In the momentary pause between her departure and return, Josie asked the question that all of the kids had been wondering but were too afraid to ask. Not even big brother Drew knew the answer, which explained why he had joined in that night as well.

“Mama, is Tommy gonna die?” Josie’s light little voice asked clearly as she lay with her head on Ali’s shin and her feet across Ashlyn’s legs.

The prized and much fought over spots between the two moms up at the headboard were reserved for Dodge and Lily that night because of their birthday. Drew was stretched out across the foot of the bed where he usually landed if he joined them. His feet were near Ali’s and he leaned on his elbow by Ashlyn’s legs.

The room was very quiet after Josie asked her question. Ali gave her wife an anxious look but Ashlyn just sighed and hugged Dodge closer to her as Lily jumped back onto the bed and crawled into her spot next to Ali.

“See?” the blonde girl held up her stuffed sloth for everyone to see with a big grin on her face. “I made these pjs for him. See?” By ‘made’ she meant took off of one of the similarly-sized baby dolls.

“Those are really cute baby girl” Ali kissed the top of her head and hugged her tightly, letting the story book close on her lap. “We were just about to talk about Tommy for a few minutes though, ok?”

“Is he gonna die?” the little girl’s face crumbled as she looked frantically from Ali to Ashlyn and back again. 

It was obvious that the kids had discussed the topic beforehand. They had all talked about Tommy and his disease a few times already that Spring, as a family. The kids had mostly been quiet but had asked a few questions among the three different conversations that had come up in the past. Never before had any of them asked if he was going to die from his disease, nor had Ali and Ashlyn ever given them any indication that he would.

“No sweet pea, he’s not gonna die” Ashlyn smiled at Lily. “I promise.”

“You guys remember what we talked about today?” Ali asked, hoping they could avoid the lengthy explanation of what Mucopolysaccharidosis, MPS, was again. “About MPS I and how it’s a disease some kids get in their genes...”

“Yeah, it’s not like having a cold or the flu” Drew offered helpfully. “It’s like...hidden inside you, that’s why they didn’t know he had it for so long.”

“That’s right smart guy” Ashlyn nodded at her first best boy and poked him with her foot. “It’s a rare disease that most kids don’t get.”

“None of you have it or will ever get it” Ali clarified.

“When you get older and you study genes and cells and stuff in biology and science class you’ll learn more about it, so don’t feel bad if it’s confusing for you now” Ashlyn reassured them.

“Becca doesn’t have it either and she’s not going to get it” Ali added. “Just Tommy. But you know the good news is that they figured out what was the matter with him.”

“Yeah, remember he was sick all the time” Dodge frowned. “He could never play with us” he shrugged as he talked about how Tommy’s illness had impacted his own young life. It was the only way he could possibly understand.

“That’s right” Ashlyn nodded again but stopped quickly as her emotions started to rise up.

Ali heard it in her wife’s voice and tried to take over for her as much as the kids would allow. But they seemed to want to hear from their Mama that night, maybe because they had already heard from Ali during the drive home.

“So, because they know what his disease is, now they know what to do to treat it” the brunette spelled it out. “That’s why he goes with his mom and dad every Wednesday to his special doctor” she used the same words that Becca used when she talked about it.

“And that’s when Becca comes here sometimes” Lily said but looked up questioningly at Ali.

“That’s right” Ali smiled down at her. “It’s fun when she comes over, isn’t it?”

“How come he’s not better then?” Josie asked the other tough question, turning her attention back to Ashlyn who patted the redhead’s skinny legs with one hand.

“He’s getting better” the keeper cleared her throat and tried to pull herself together. “It’s gonna take a while but someday soon he’ll be able to do a lot more things and he won’t be so tired all the time...”

“Can he play soccer with us then?” Dodge asked, hopefully.

Ashlyn opened her mouth to answer but nothing came out. She tried again, but still no luck. All four kids were watching her closely now as a tear started to fall down her cheek.

“He won’t be able to do any sports or anything too physical because his legs aren’t going to be very strong, even after he gets better” Ali explained carefully, but nobody was paying attention to her anymore.

“Why are you crying?” Dodge reached up to pat Ashlyn’s cheek, more gently than any of them had seen him touch anything in a very long time. His own face looked forlorn as he searched his Mama’s visage for an answer.

“Oh buddy, I’m just sad, that’s all” she squeaked out as her throat closed up on her again. “But it’s ok. You don’t have to be scared.”

“Why are you sad if he’s getting better though?” Drew frowned and looked to Ali after getting a watery nod from Ashlyn that told him nothing.

“Listen guys, this is a lot to understand so don’t feel bad if it’s confusing. It’s ok. The most important thing for you to know is that Tommy’s not going to die. He will get better after some more treatments, it’s just gonna take some time” the brunette tried to keep things on an even keel before they were all blubbering messes. “But he’s never going to be all better. He’s never going to be able to play sports and run around and do a lot of things you guys all do.”

“How come?” Lily asked, clutching her stuffed sloth tightly and trying to understand.

“It’s part of the disease...”

“MPS I” Drew added.

“That’s right” Ali gave him a small smile. “The disease...well it hurt Tommy’s joints, his knees and his hips and his ankles” the brunette explained, touching the corresponding areas on Lily’s body so everybody knew exactly what she was talking about. “And it also hurt his lungs so that’s why he uses that inhaler to help him breathe sometimes...”

“Is that why that one girl had the oxygen tank with her today?” Josie asked as she started to put some things together in her big brain.

“Lots of kids there today had a whole lot of things in their bodies that didn’t work very well, didn’t they” Ali looked at the kids carefully. “That oxygen tank is what helps that girl breathe Jose, you’re right.”

“Will Tommy need one of those...tanks?” Dodge asked with a frown.

“I don’t think so” Ali replied honestly. “But maybe. We’ll have to wait and see how his lungs feel after some more treatments.” They were all quiet for a minute before Ali tried to wrap it all up for them. “The other thing that got hurt in Tommy because of his disease is his heart. You guys know that your heart is what makes everything else in your body work, right?”

They all nodded, having studied basic physiology and body parts in school already, not to mention reading about it in their many body parts books at home.

“So his heart got hurt so it’s not as strong as it needs to be. That’s why he’s so tired all the time. It takes a lot of work for his body to do what ours do automatically, without us even thinking about it.”

“He doesn’t look like those other kids though” Lily asked more than stated.

Ali took a deep breath, trying to steady herself and everybody else. She wasn’t afraid of talking about this with the kids, but she didn’t want to open a can of worms at 8:30pm either.

“Ok guys, listen, we can talk more about this tomorrow or anytime you want. But that’s enough for tonight ok?”

Ashlyn had been listening to her strong wife field the questions and had finally found the strength to answer one herself, so she did. She hoped her wife would recognize her own words in the reply because Ali had been the one to help Ashlyn come to terms with Tommy’s disease in the first place.

“Tommy’s actually very lucky” the keeper wiped the tear from her own cheek as they all looked at her curiously. “I know it seems like that’s not right, but it is. A lot of the kids you saw today have different types of MPS, some of them, all of them actually, are worse than Tommy’s MPS I. Tommy has the mildest kind of MPS and they caught it before it did too much damage to his body. Those kids today that didn’t look like him, the ones who had kind of smushed faces and that one boy had the claw hand?”

The kids were too freaked out to even participate in the conversation, although nothing in Ashlyn’s voice gave them an invitation to join in either. One of the kids there had severe spinal damage and that had been a shock even Ashlyn had trouble shaking off. The keeper knew the kids remembered what they had seen that day.

“None of that’s going to happen to Tommy. Ok?” Ashlyn continued, her voice getting steadier all the time even though it was still soft. “Some of those kids, those kids with the really severe kind of MPS, some of them might die. But Tommy won’t” she shook her head. “Tommy’s not going to get any worse than he is. He’s only going to get better and stronger. He’s going to grow up just like the rest of you do...”

“I thought he couldn’t do sports?” Dodge frowned again, confused.

“You’re right, but that’s not what I mean” Ashlyn sighed and looked at her wife. “This is hard.”

“It is, but you’re doing great” the brunette encouraged with a small smile.

“Tommy’s going to grow up like you guys. Like, he’s going to get taller and he’s going to get heavier and he’s going to get older, like you guys will. One day he’s going to go to high school and then college. And one day when he’s even older he’ll probably get married and have his own kids.” 

She paused to wait for the kids to stop freaking out about the idea that the four-family kids would get bigger and get married and have kids of their own. Anytime that concept came up they all reacted with the same amazement and wonder. 

“And he’s probably going to live to be an old man, like Papa and Grandpa...” she took another big breath and smiled, hoping the love and hope she felt in her heart would shine through to her kids listening so carefully to her. “And that’s why Tommy’s so lucky. He’s going to have a good life now that he knows about his disease. So many of those other kids we saw today aren’t that lucky. Tommy won’t be able to play sports” she quirked an eyebrow at Dodge, keeping him from saying it yet again. “And he’ll have to go see his special doctor every week, and he’ll probably need his inhaler too, but other than that he’ll be just like the rest of us. And we’re all lucky for that, aren’t we?”

“We sure are” Ali chimed in, pleased with the upward turn the conversation had taken. She let a minute go by before moving again towards bedtime and sleep. “And who’s the absolute luckiest of all because they’re having a birthday party tomorrow?”

“Me!!!” both twins shouted loudly.

“That’s right” Ali laughed and that made them all feel better. If their mom could laugh about everything then it must really be ok. “Now let’s get to bed, it’s late.”

“Pee please, everybody” Ashlyn called out as the kids scampered off the bed in every direction.

Drew was the only one who stayed as the others found an empty bathroom.

“You ok bud?” Ashlyn poked him again with her foot as Ali leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek before nuzzling into her neck for a brief moment.

“Yeah” he shrugged. “It’s sad though. I mean...those kids that were so messed up today, the ones who have the really bad MPS...”

“It is sad” Ashlyn nodded and let Ali sit up again, even though she didn’t want her to go. 

“Some of them are gonna die, aren’t they?” Drew looked up and Ashlyn swore she was looking into Ali’s deep, amber eyes for a minute. There was so much emotion and compassion in them and Ashlyn tilted her head and blinked back at her shark boy.

“Yes Drew, they are” she nodded and sat up herself so she could reach down and pull him half into her lap. He didn’t resist.

Josie came out of the master bathroom and stopped when she saw Drew looking upset.

“Come on Jose, let’s go to bed” Ali met her at the foot of the bed with a warm smile and took her by the hand. 

“It’s so unfair that those kids have to die though” Drew whimpered as his tears fell once his sister had left the room. “They didn’t do anything wrong” he sniffled. “It’s not fair.”

“No sweet boy, it’s not fair. Not at all. But sometimes life isn’t fair, right?” she bent over and kissed his head as he sniffled again. She felt him nod against her chest and she squeezed him some more. “There’s a lot of sad stuff in the world and you’re going to see and hear more about it now that you’re growing up. But you always have to remember that there’s just as much good stuff too.”

“Is that why you were sad? Because of the kids dying?”

“Partly” Ashlyn nodded. “And partly because I was sad that we’d never get to play soccer with Tommy. Or that he’d never know what it felt like to hit a homerun or score a touchdown...”

“That is sad” Drew agreed morosely.

“But I’ll tell you my secret to not letting the sad stuff get you down. Do you want to hear it?”

“Yeah” he nodded and sat up so he could look at his Mama’s smiling face.

“When I’m feeling sad or thinking about something sad in the world and I don’t want to feel that way anymore I just think of something good.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, it can be anything really” she shrugged. “When you’re old like your mom and me there are lots of things to choose from.”

“Like what though?”

“Well, tonight when I was sad I listened to Mom’s voice. I love listening to her voice, I think it’s one of the most beautiful things in the whole world, and that made me happy. And then, having all of you guys around me tonight, well, that’s about the best thing ever for making me happy.”

“Unless we’re fighting or being mean to each other” Drew giggled.

“Yes” Ashlyn agreed and rolled her eyes at her playful son. “That makes me sad and then we have to start all over again.”

“What if I don’t know what makes me happy, you know, like right at that time when I’m trying not to feel sad?”

“Something that always works for me is to just look around. It’s easier if I’m outside but that’s because I like being outside, around nature. It still works if you’re inside. You just look around and find something that makes you smile. Maybe it’s the ocean because it makes you think of surfing or swimming or sharks” she teased him lightly. “Maybe it’s the picture on the mantle in the family room because it reminds you of a certain time or a certain person who made you happy.”

“Like, your championship pictures and medals and stuff?” he asked.

“Sure” she shrugged. “It can be anything at all. It’s different for all of us.”

“What’s something in here right now that makes you happy?” he asked, surprising Ashlyn with how into the conversation he was.

“Well that’s tough only because there are about a million things in this room that make me very very happy” she smiled sincerely. “But if I had to pick one right now...” she paused as she scanned the room, “I’d pick the jewelry dish I made for your mom” she nodded up at the top of Ali’s dresser.

“Oh yeah” Drew smiled and nodded. “From your sculpting class, right?”

“Yep. It was the first thing I made that turned out anything like I planned” she chuckled. “And it makes me happy that I made it and it makes me even happier that your mom liked it enough to keep it and put it on her dresser.”

“That’s cool” he nodded his approval again. “Ok, I think I get it.”

“Good. You’re a smart guy Drew. I want you to remember that you are the only person in the whole world who can control what you feel” she gave him a serious look as she passed on some of her best advice. “Good and bad things are going to happen to you in your life but only you decide how you react to them. Do you understand?”

“I think so” his face was full of concentration. “It’s my attitude thing right? If I don’t want to be in a bad mood I just have to change my mood?” he said the words he had heard from both his parents his entire life.

“Yes! That’s my boy” she pulled him into another wrestling hug and planted a big wet kiss on his cheek. “My sweet, smart, shark boy.”

Ashlyn could feel how much her own mood had improved in the hour she’d been home and it was all because of her wife and kids. Even on the hardest of days she could always count on the big old house and the love that lived there to help her through it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm excited to watch the first Victory Tour game tomorrow night!! I'm not happy to have the NWSL season interrupted again though. I'm not sure there's a good way around it though. I'd love to know when Ali's 100th celebration game is too!! Why all the secrecy? I guess they never announce the 100th celly games too far in advance though. I don't remember it anyway. Maybe a day or two. Anyway - I can't wait to see Ali Krieger back on the pitch, whenever it happens. Hopefully tomorrow, but if I have to wait until next weekend I guess I'll have to be ok with that. lol. Let's go USA!!!


	8. Summer Plans & June Surprises

After the whirlwind of May birthdays, Mother’s Day, the Spring concerts at both schools, the very exciting run Drew and Ethan’s baseball team made at the state youth championships, The Lion King Jr production that all three youngest Kriegers had parts in, and Micky Donaldson’s high school graduation ceremony the first weekend in June, Ali and Ashlyn were exhausted. And there were still 2 weeks of school left to go! The kids were bouncing off the walls with excitement for the summer too, and that only made the last two weeks of school take even longer to get through. 

“Mom, when are Lizzy and Cristina coming up again?” Lily asked late one evening, surprising her moms in the family room after she should have been asleep.

“What are you doing up Sweet Pea?” Ali asked with a slight frown of concern, putting down the magazine she was leafing through while Ashlyn painted her toenails for her at the other end of the couch. “Are you ok?”

“Umm...” the newly 9-year old blonde stalled and quickly thought of a plausible story. “My belly’s upset” she added a pouty bottom lip to really sell it.

Ashlyn gave her wife a sideways glance to make sure she wasn’t falling for their most devious child’s bullshit. Ali gave her keeper’s arm a careful caress, not wanting to disturb her important work. The brunette sat with her feet in Ashlyn’s lap, one bare foot with three freshly painted toenails and the other foot still to be started. It was barely 9:30pm. Ali had just come down from making sure both Drew and Josie had put their books away and turned off their lights for the night. She had plopped herself on the couch with a sigh and presented her accommodating wife with the bottle of nail polish and a bright smile. Ashlyn very rarely turned away the chance to paint the brunette’s nails. Hell, she rarely turned away any chance to touch her wife in any way possible. Something about the intimacy and trust involved with painting Ali’s nails for her had always made them both feel close and cozy. Ali was perfectly capable of doing her own nails but she always preferred to have the blonde do it for her, if at all possible. They would talk and catch up on each other’s day or sometimes Ali would read to her wife. That evening she had just started to read Ashlyn the article in the travel magazine about the must-see things in Hong Kong. The Summer Olympics were fast approaching and Ali was going to join her wife for the last 10 days of it again, like they had done last year for the World Cup in London – only this time she was leaving the kids behind. The idea of taking them on a 16-hour non-stop flight from Boston to Hong Kong made both moms sick to their stomachs. It was time to narrow down some of the things they wanted to do in one of the biggest, busiest cities in the world.

“It is huh?” Ali watched their youngest daughter walk slowly towards the coffee table from the doorway to the dark dining room where she had silently appeared from. “Do you need to poop?”

It was an obvious question and one you wouldn’t expect to have to ask a 9-year old child, but you’d be surprised how often it was the overlooked solution to the problem.

“Nuh-uh” the blonde girl shook her head and shifted her weight, trying to look like she was in pain. “It just hurts” she shrugged and sighed, sticking her bottom lip out again and ducking her head. “When are Lizzy and Cristina coming up again?” she repeated the question, hoping it wasn’t too soon to get back to the topic at hand.

Ali stifled a giggle at Lily’s obvious deception. Ashlyn shot the brunette a firm look, letting her wife know that if she wasn’t going to handle the bald-faced lie their daughter was telling them that she most certainly would.

“Lily, you know we don’t tolerate lying in this family” Ali set her jaw and raised her eyebrow. “Why are you pretending your belly hurts?”

There was the briefest of stare downs between mother and daughter, and then Lily giggled, trying to win her way back into her mom’s good graces with her cuteness. 

“Well?” Ali pushed, wanting the issue resolved and her daughter back in bed where she belonged. She was also having a hard time not smiling back at the adorable girl in front of her. Those familiar hazel eyes of hers were like kryptonite for the brunette.

“Ok, I just...I couldn’t go to sleep cuz I can’t wait for them to come up” she admitted as she bounced up and down on her toes, her face breaking out into a wide grin.

For the first time ever, all of the young girl cousins were old enough to go to The Academy together. Lily had finally turned 9 so she was eligible for the first time. Lizzy Harris was 12, Josie would be 11 by the first week of soccer camp, Cristina Guerrero was 10, and Lily was 9. Additionally, 10-year old Penny Cross would be attending for the second year. The only family or 4-family girl not part of this important event was Becca Flanagan. She was still only 7 and had two more years to wait. Also for the first time ever, all five of the eligible girls would be going to all five of the first 6 weeks of The Academy that they possibly could! Only week 4 was the invitational week at camp for 11- through 16-year old girls. Lizzy was old enough to go to week 4 but not quite good enough soccer-wise. Josie was old enough this year and she was good enough, but she decided she wanted to skip that week and hang out with her cousins instead. All four Krieger kids, Lizzy Harris, and both Guerrero kids were going to go to the music camp together that week and Josie was ecstatic about it. The Academy group of girl cousins, dubbed the girl gang, was a monumental thing and Lily wasn’t the only one who was excited about it. Lizzy had been asking to come up and stay for the whole 6 weeks since her very first time, three years ago. Cristina had enjoyed her time at the Academy last year and knew she would have even more fun this year with Lily there too.

Ashlyn was going to be there coaching the first four weeks before she had to leave for the Olympics, and Ali was going to be up there coaching both weeks 2 and 5 while the girls were all there together. Drew, Edgar and Dodge were going to be there for week 5 too, as family. The only one missing that week would be Ashlyn. Kyle was bringing his family up to Gloucester for their annual 2-week vacation, staying from July 1st through the 18th and leaving Cristina up there without her dads for two more weeks, and Edgar for one more week. Deb and Mike Christopher would be there to help Ali and then to run the show, with assists from Tammye and Carol, and Ken and Vicki, while Ali was in Hong Kong with Ashlyn for weeks 6 and 7.

The Harris clan was also coming up for the 4th of July celebration, preceded by the Horribles parade and fireworks that took place every year at Gloucester Harbor as well. Mike Harris would be flying up with Chris, Beth and Johnny. They were only staying for a week. Tammye and Carol would already be in Rockport after bringing Lizzy up for the start of The Academy. It was going to be another big and busy summer but that’s just how Ali and Ashlyn liked it. They loved having all the cousins get together and tried to make it happen whenever they could.

Ali made sure her NH Krieger cousins felt welcome to join The Academy too. Her cousin Jeff’s daughter Maddie and her cousin Rachael’s youngest daughter Mandy were both 12 years old that summer and would be coming to the first three weeks of The Academy too. Little Katie, Jon and Kelly’s middle child and only daughter, was only 7 and would have to wait two more years to join in the fun. Maddie and Mandy had gone to one week each of the three previous years, when they were 9, 10 & 11, and seemed to have a wonderful time. Ali couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t stay for all three weeks or consider doing all 5 of the first 6 weeks.

“They probably can’t afford it” Ashlyn had explained earlier that Spring when the brunette was starting to put the summer schedule together for their family.

It always amazed the keeper that her smart, compassionate wife could be so clueless about things like that sometimes. It was the money conversation all over again. Ashlyn always considered the cost of things almost immediately in any situation. Ali often overlooked it until much further along in the decision-making process. It was just how they had been raised. Ali had never had to think about money when she was growing up. Being poor was something that followed Ashlyn everywhere she went when she was a girl.

“Jesus, you’re right” Ali sighed, frustrated with herself for not thinking of it sooner. “For fuck’s sake...when am I gonna stop making the same damned mistake over and over again?”

Ashlyn walked up behind her wife who was sitting at the dining room table with a large blank drawing pad of paper in front of her, ready to start the beastly schedule. Ali’s face was a tight frown, full of frustration with her own shortcomings. She was embarrassed that she still screwed this up even after all these years.

“Hey, it’s ok” the keeper rested her hands on Ali’s tense shoulders, letting the weight of them press down until the brunette relaxed and exhaled. “It’s April. There’s lots of time to talk to Viv and Rach about soccer camp” she kissed the top of Ali’s head and let her fingers start to massage the brunette’s shoulders.

“You’re right, babe” Ali sighed again, closing her eyes and appreciating the wonderful feeling that was starting to spread through her body. “You’re right.”

“Why don’t we tell them we get a discount or something?” Ashlyn suggested. She was well-versed in finding sneaky ways to pay for her less-wealthy family to participate in fun events like The Academy. “See how much they can afford, one or two weeks, and then just sign the girls up for all 5 weeks.”

“Can we do that?” Ali turned to look up at her wife but Ashlyn used her hands to reposition her head back into place and continued the massage. Ali didn’t fight it. “I mean, we’ll need to pay for them, for what they can’t cover. Are you ok with that?”

“Al, of course I’m ok with that. How many times have we done that with my family? Hell, we’re doing it already with Lizzy” she chuckled.

The difference with Lizzy was that Chris and Beth thought Carol was paying for it because Ashlyn knew her brother was too proud to take money from his younger sister. Ashlyn and Carol, and Tammye and Ali by default, had been in cahoots for years to make sure the Harris kids got to do all the same fun things the Krieger kids did. The only reason they had to keep it a secret was because they all knew Chris would stubbornly refuse to participate if he found out the truth.

“I know but...”

“What? You think I’m only ok helping my family and not yours?” she chuckled again. “It’s kinda nice knowing there are some Kriegers out there who need a little help now and then” she bent over and pressed a warm kiss to Ali’s cheek, wrapping her up in a hug at the same time. “I like it.”

“Alright then” Ali tilted her cheek into her wife’s lips and then her cheek as they held the embrace for a minute. “I’ll talk to Viv and Rach and figure it out.”

Back in the family room in early June, Ali nodded at her daughter. “Thank you for telling us the truth” she opened her arms and let Lily come into her chest for a hug. “Careful not to move my foot or Mama will have to start over on that last toe” both Ali and Lily giggled as they watched Ashlyn carefully finishing the big toe of foot number one.

The keeper bent down and blew softly on her wife’s right foot before giving it a quick kiss and patting Ali’s leg to let her know she could put it on the floor.

“It’s pretty exciting having all our girls go to The Academy together this year huh?” Ashlyn winked at her daughter and reached one long arm out to gently poke her in her belly. “I know I’m excited.”

“Me too” Ali agreed but they were both careful to keep their voices calm so Lily would follow suit and have a chance of actually falling asleep sometime soon. She had always been the kid who had the hardest time falling asleep and it hadn’t gotten any better with age. “But it’s still two weeks away...”

“Everybody but Becca will be there” Lily interrupted, not able to wait. “I can’t wait!”

Both Ali and Ashlyn were younger siblings and they knew how incredible it felt when you finally got to do something your older sibling was already doing. It was one of the best feelings in the whole world. They understood what Lily was experiencing. But she had to learn how to handle it better or it was going to be a long, painful two weeks.

“Me either baby girl” Ali hugged her and kissed her cheek. “But you need to get your sleep or you won’t be able to keep up with all your cousins when they finally get here.”

“And you’d better start eating your dinner better too” Ashlyn gave her a serious look but flashed her a smile to make sure she knew it was for her own good. “You’ll need to be strong and well-fed and well-rested if you’re going to show those older girls how awesome you are. Right?” she winked at Lily and the girl beamed back at her.

“Right!” she gave Ali one more hug and kiss and grabbed her stuffed sloth on her way past Ali’s legs towards Ashlyn. She gave her Mama a hug and a kiss and a high five when the keeper prompted her for one. Then she marched over to the doorway into the dining room before turning around to deliver one last remark. “I’ll show them!”

Both Ali and Ashlyn encouraged her and praised her and reminded her to pee if she needed to before going back to bed.

“I’ll come check on you when I finish Mommy’s other foot” Ashlyn called after the girl who walked purposefully towards the front stairs. “Love you sweet pea!”

The two weeks went by faster than the two moms thought they would and included two surprising events before the Krieger’s annual end of school celebration on Thursday, June 17th. The first curveball came from Meg on Tuesday June 8th, although she was just the unwitting messenger. She was bringing all of her stuff from her dorm up to the big old house to store for the summer before heading down to DC to intern for the Washington Spirit again for the first half of the summer. After her third and final trip, Meg dropped her tired body into the recliner in the front living room with an exhausted moan. It was 9:00pm and she could hear Ashlyn getting two bottles of beer from the fridge in the kitchen now that it was finally quiet upstairs. Ali came down the front stairs with a basket full of dirty laundry and walked through the front living room on her way to the washing machine in the mudroom.

“Get it all done?” she asked, genuinely wondering if her wife and stepdaughter had completed the task while she put the kids to bed. She paused at the open doorway between the two rooms, waiting for Meg to reply.

“Yeah, just finished.”

“Nice job kiddo” the brunette flashed a bright smile. “I just have to do this one load and then it’s all yours...”

“Hey baby” Ashlyn kissed her wife’s cheek as she squeezed herself past the laundry basket on her hip and entered the front living room. “She’s gonna wait til tomorrow for laundry. There’s no rush. She’s got all day. Everything go ok up there?” she handed a bottle to Meg before taking a swig of her own and getting comfortable on the couch.

Ali gave her wife a challenging but still playful quirk of her eyebrow as Logan hopped up next to the blonde on the couch.

“What?” Ashlyn cocked her head, trying to figure out what the brunette was getting at. “We got it all done. We earned these beers” she took a guess, watching while Ali’s eyebrows went all the way up to her hairline. “Oh, right” she turned to Meg. “If you’re gonna underage drink in this house you can’t post about it and you have to sleep over” she repeated the rules the two moms had come up with to try and find a happy medium between being narcs, and being moms who bought beer for their underage kids.

“Got it” Meg nodded with a small smile as she took another sip of beer. “I promise” she added when both moms looked like they needed more assurance. “You want my keys too? They’re on the desk” she nodded towards the desk in the mudroom that only Ali could see from their current positions. 

Ali and Ashlyn had always been respectful of the law and drinking age, especially with the younger kids in the house, but they weren’t under any illusions about what 20-year old Meg did in her spare time when not at the big old house. It had only been 3 months since Meg’s drunken mistake while babysitting and that inauspicious event had been the catalyst for the new rules. Both moms had forgiven the redhead, believing that the drunken scene from March really had started innocently and spun out of her control. They had decided it was time to teach Meg about drinking responsibly. If she was going to do it, she may as well learn how to do it the right way. Tonight was a good example. She and Ashlyn had earned a nice cold beer as a reward for schlepping all of her stuff from Boston to Gloucester. It didn’t have to turn into three or more beers and getting drunk and dealing with a hangover in the morning.

“Good” Ashlyn smiled, surprised at how much she was enjoying the moment. 

It felt really nice to sit there and share a beer with Meg. Ali could see it on both of their faces and it made her happy too. She put the load of laundry into the washing machine, went to the fridge and returned to the front living room where Ashlyn and Meg had found a soccer game on the big tv. Ali walked to Meg and tapped the fresh beer bottle in her hand to the one in Meg’s. 

“Cheers and good work moving out of the dorm” the brunette said with a smile before taking a seat next to her wife on the couch with another tap of her bottle. This tap was followed by a kiss. “Mmmm...love you” she mumbled before stealing another quick kiss from the keeper.

“So what’s the deal with the condo mom’s buying? Do you guys know?” Meg asked, absent-mindedly, as she watched the game.

“What?” Ashlyn struggled to focus on Meg’s words with Ali’s lips still so close to her own. “What condo? Where?”

“In Boston. Or Brookline maybe? I don’t know” she shook her head. “I wasn’t really paying attention but she and Reenie were talking about it this morning when I Facetimed her.”

No answers were found that night but the next day Ashlyn called Hannah to find out what was going on. She knew that Hannah’s original plan for Meg’s college years had been to buy or rent a condo in Boston so she had someplace to stay for all of Meg’s home games. She hadn’t done it Meg’s freshman year because she wanted to be sure it was a good idea before jumping into it. She had gotten busy with her own business this past year and hadn’t been able to do much condo hunting before Meg was already halfway through soccer season her sophomore year. But it sounded like she was ready to do something about it now, and it seemed like she wanted to have something worked out before Meg’s junior year of soccer started in August. 

Ashlyn had been fairly ambivalent about the whole idea all along. She didn’t really care where Hannah stayed when she came up for Meg’s games. She wasn’t a jerk about it, but it simply didn’t matter to the blonde. Hannah staying in her own condo wouldn’t change Ashlyn’s life in any way compared to Hannah staying in a hotel as she had done for the past two years. Things were fine between Ashlyn and Hannah and even Hannah and Ali. Once the brunette had confessed her discomfort with how much time Ashlyn had been spending with Hannah at Meg’s games, the keeper had made herself more aware of it and tried to make sure Ali knew how much she loved her and how little she cared for Hannah in that way. Everything had been working out well among the three of them and none of them had any complaints. Part of what made things easier was the fact that Meg was 20 years old and living her own life, for the most part. There just wasn’t much for the three moms to disagree about. Hannah had been horrified to hear about the drunken babysitting incident in March and had given Meg her own talking to about it, but Meg was mostly a really good kid who didn’t cause a lot of problems.

“So Meg asked me what was up with your new condo and I didn’t know what to tell her” Ashlyn began the discussion after making small talk. “Because I don’t know anything about your new condo...in Boston.”

It was hard to keep the frustration out of her voice but the keeper tried her best. She had learned many things from being married for 14-1/2 years, one of which was patience and another of which was choosing your words carefully when you were upset.

“Oh yeah” Hannah laughed lightly. “I keep meaning to talk to you about that. I can’t believe it’s June already! Where the hell did this whole semester go anyway?”

“So what’s going on Han?” Ashlyn was unable to be patient anymore.

“Well, nothing new. I’ve been planning all along to buy a condo in Boston for Meg’s games...”

“But it’s been two years already and you haven’t yet.”

“And now I’m going to” Hannah replied curtly, slightly confused by Ashlyn’s less than enthusiastic reaction. “Is there a problem with that?”

“No, there’s no problem” the blonde sighed audibly. “I guess I just don’t like to be the last one to know. I don’t know” she shook her head, annoyed by Hannah as well as her own sensitivity that she didn’t even understand yet.

“If it makes you feel better, you’re one of only 4 people who even knows at all” Hannah chuckled, her voice softer after hearing Ashlyn’s honest reply. “Are you mad because I didn’t ask your permission or something? What’s the big deal Ash?”

“There is no big deal. I just wanted to know what the plan was. That’s all.”

“Is it ok with you if I buy a condo near Boston?” Hannah took the high road and said the words she thought Ashlyn wanted to hear.

“Of course it’s ok with me Hannah. It’s your money you can do whatever you want with it” she laughed, realizing how silly the entire conversation would have sounded to anybody listening. 

“Well that’s good to hear” Hannah laughed with her. “Reenie’s already got me picking out furniture and paint colors so I’m glad you’re on board.”

Reenie, short for Irene, Vega was Hannah’s business partner. She had been a casual friend who was a step above most of Hannah’s other close friends back when she and Ashlyn had been together. Ashlyn’s favorite thing about Reenie, besides her sarcastic sense of humor and excellent taste for expensive whiskey, had been that she absolutely hated Hannah’s ex-husband, Dev. As soon as Hannah’s divorce was finalized and she had blown off some steam and a good deal of Dev’s money, the redhead focused on what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. The answer had been to start her own event business. The other thing she wanted was to work less and she wasn’t sure she could get those two wishes to coexist. But then she thought of her good friend Reenie and knew she had a perfect plan. They became business partners and their company was doing very well and earning them both money and acclaim among Washington DC’s wealthy elite.

“If you need any help, you know from up here... a warm body or whatever, just let me know” Ashlyn offered before she could stop herself. She didn’t want to be unkind but Hannah could be the type of person who would expect her to drive all the way to Boston or Brookline to sign for a package or something dumb like that.

“Oh you’re sweet but I hope I don’t need that” she explained. “The building has all the amenities I’ll need. They’ll take care of whatever comes up if I can’t be there.”

They chatted for several minutes about getting the condo ready for August and Meg’s preseason games.

“And it’ll be big enough so Meg can live there too if she wants...”

There it was. There was the part that Ashlyn had been waiting for. The other shoe had finally dropped.

“What are you talking about? She’s gonna live in the dorm with Gwen again, just like always.”

“Oh sure. I know” Hannah acknowledged Ashlyn’s response in that way that had always annoyed the keeper. It was patronizing and always meant that Hannah had no real intention of doing whatever it was that Ashlyn had just proposed.

“Well if you know, then why did you say Meg was gonna live in the condo?”

“I never said she was going to live in the condo” the redhead recognized the familiar build up to another fight with the keeper. They didn’t fight very often anymore but Hannah knew a storm was coming. “I said she could stay there if she wanted to.”

“No” Ashlyn stood her ground. “You said she could live there...”

“Ashlyn, why are you getting upset about this? Why would it be so wrong for her to live in my condo if she wants to?”

“Because she’s 20 years old and has enough to worry about without having to take care of a condo too” Ashlyn was trying to control her temper. Maybe Hannah didn’t understand exactly how taxing it was to be a student athlete. “She barely has enough time to get to classes and do her homework and assignments as it is now. And you want her to be taking care of a condo too? Do you even know what you’re talking about?”

The conversation deteriorated into a fight and they both agreed to end the call before it got ugly. After a couple of days to cool off they spoke again and agreed, after a more civil discussion, to let Meg weigh in on the subject with her own opinion. They also promised to talk again, just the two of them, before bringing Meg into it in July. They wanted to have plans ironed out before Meg and Gwen accompanied Ashlyn to Hong Kong for the first half of the Olympics – the last 10 days of July. 

The other surprise presented itself four days after Ashlyn shared a beer with Meg in the front living room. It was Saturday June 12th and it was a blissfully calm day in the busy month. Most of the youth sports leagues were finished for the season and there was no play rehearsal or school concert to get ready for. The four Krieger kids were supposed to be cleaning their rooms that day, in anticipation of their cousins visiting the following weekend as well as for a few weeks in July. It was a deep clean of inside dresser drawers and closets and behind dressers. It was a purge of older toys and clothes that didn’t get played with any longer or didn’t fit any more. Ali and Ashlyn had intended to do their own room at the same time but realized that they were needed in the other bedrooms to keep the train rolling and the kids on track. They took turns checking on each kid and guiding them when and where necessary.

“But it’s too gross in there” Dodge shook his head as he grimaced at the pile of random things he had thrown into his closet over the past several months. 

His room was, by far, the worst, followed closely by Lily’s. Drew had always been a pretty neat and careful kid and Josie was downright fastidious about her things and her room so they had a distinct advantage over the twins.

“It’s not too gross in there” Ashlyn shook her head at her son. “Marisol was just here Thursday. That’s why we’re doing this today. Everything’s already nice and clean for you.”

The truth was they didn’t ask Marisol to clean behind the dressers or in the drawers or in the closets. She had enough to do just accomplishing the basics in the big old house and they were grateful for it. The other truth was that Dodge would rather do just about anything other than clean his room and was trying every trick he could think of to avoid it.

“Aw Mama” he kicked at the rug on his floor and dropped his head in dismay.

“Don’t ‘aw Mama’ me. Just get moving big boy” the keeper gave him a warning look. “If you think this isn’t fun now, just wait until everybody else is finished and you’re the only one still up here cleaning your room.”

Ali quirked her eyebrow at her wife from the hallway, letting her know that she knew the keeper had stolen her best line. 

“You don’t even give me credit when you steal my work huh?” Ali teased as they compared notes a few minutes later in the girls’ bathroom.

“What can I say?” Ashlyn shrugged and grinned, her dimple showing up to make Ali’s knees weak. “When I saw how well it worked on Lily I had to try it on Dodger too.”

“Nothing like a little healthy competition among siblings, am I right?” Ali laughed and fended off her wife’s long arms as they tried to wrap around her waist. “No, don’t. I have to go help Drew and if you start touching me I’ll never make it.”

Ashlyn whined but let her wife go, managing one last tap of her favorite ass as Ali moved towards the second-floor hallway. She gave it a little extra shake when she was sure she was out of reach.

“Such a tease” Ashlyn laughed but bit her lip hard as she watched her go. “Damn.”

An hour later Ali was back in Drew’s room to see how far he had gotten with purging the clothes in his closet. They talked for a few minutes about keeping nice clothes even though he didn’t wear them very often.

“We make an exception for dressy clothes” Ali explained. “We keep those even though you don’t wear them all the time and they’re not your favorite.”

They started goofing around while they worked and laughing about some of the places Drew might wear some of the dressy clothes he was being forced to keep in his closet. Ali explained to him about college interviews and job interviews while Drew brought up the things he had vague memories of like weddings and funerals.

“So, what would I wear if I took Erin out on a date, to a nice restaurant?” Drew asked, finally getting the awkward question out and making Ali realize he had probably been trying to ask her that the whole time she had been in there with him. “Just, you know, like a joke” he tried to cover up his curiosity.

“Taking your date to a nice restaurant shouldn’t be a joke” she cautioned and tried to put him at ease. “But if you were taking Erin someplace like that then I’d wear...” she hummed as she pulled out a nice pair of dress pants, dress shirt, and tie. “But the tie would be optional, depending on how fancy the restaurant was.”

Drew spent another twenty minutes asking his mother silly questions that were obviously not what he really wanted or needed to know. After giving him enough time to get up the courage to ask what was really on his mind, Ali ran out of time and patience.

“Drew, buddy, what’s going on?” she was careful not to put her full attention on him having learned with all the kids that she got faster, more honest answers when they didn’t feel so watched. “You can just ask me what you really want to, you know. Just spit it out. It’s ok, I promise.”

Her heart raced a bit as she tried to prepare herself for whatever her pubescent 13-year old said next. After another long pause Drew finally spoke, his words coming out softly and in a rush of breath his mother could barely understand.

“I wanna do a dinner date here, well downstairs actually. I wanna do a dinner date here for Erin...like we did for you and Mama” he took a big breath when he was finished and kept his eyes on the floor while Ali kept putting clothes into separate piles on the extra twin bed. “Please” he added hastily once he realized he hadn’t included it in his original statement.

“That’s a great idea” Ali nodded but was careful not to appear too excited about it. Nothing was worse or more uncool than if your mom liked your idea. “We can make that happen sometime this summer, you bet.”

“No, it has to be this week” his eyes were wide. How could she not have gotten that?

“This week? Why?”

“Cuz we’re breaking up at the end of school...”

“Oh, right” Ali nodded again. “I forgot that’s how it is these days” she caught herself right before she laughed. She wouldn’t have meant it as a laugh at Drew or the strange new dating rules, but as a laugh at herself and how things had been when she was 13. But Drew would have definitely heard it as a criticism. “This week huh...” she pursed her lips as she ran through the schedule in her mind. “When?”

“Well, school’s out on Thursday and she can’t do it on Monday...”

“And we’ll have Becca on Wednesday” Ali added, now looking at the calendar in her phone to iron down a date.

“So, Tuesday?” he asked hopefully.

“I’ll have to check with Mama, to make sure she’ll be around to help with everybody else...”

“Oh, no” he shook his head. “You guys can’t be here” his eyes were wide again, in a panic at the idea of going on a date and having his moms around. “You have to take them all...someplace else...”

“Ok, ok, calm down Romeo” she tried to slow the teenager down so she could get all the details about how the date would work. “How am I supposed to cook the dinner for your date if I can’t be here for your date?”

“You can teach me to do it” he announced proudly, obviously having thought this part through before. 

“Drew, honey, I love you and I’ll do anything for you, especially if it’s important to you...but you’re not using the stove while you’re here by yourself, not for a whole meal like this.”

Drew’s face fell and she thought for a moment that he was going to cry. She tried to think of some kind of compromise but there was no scenario where she was going to be ok with her 13-year old son cooking dinner for his girlfriend with no grown up in the house. It was hard to get him to pay attention on a good day, forget about when he was all excited and nervous and distracted about a date with his girlfriend.

“I wanted to ask Meg first, but she’s already gone” he admitted, not realizing how painful his words sounded to his mother.

Ali fought off the blow and tried to think of somebody else she trusted. Drew made a more horrifying face with each grandparent she suggested.

“Well I don’t know what to tell you kiddo” she shrugged after several minutes of rattling off grown-up family members who weren’t good or cool enough for Drew to be seen with on his date. “If you want to do this dinner date thing, you’ve gotta have a grown-up...”

“Ok fine” he frowned and sighed heavily. “Mama can do it. But you have to get everybody else out before Erin gets here...”

He continued with his list of demands but Ali had stopped listening after hearing that Ashlyn was cool enough to participate in his big date but she wasn’t. She knew she was being silly and childish about it, but fuck...did that hurt. She had known long ago that moments like this were bound to happen when she decided to have children with Ashlyn Michelle Harris Krieger. Ali knew her wife would always be the mom who was more fun and more cool and more...everything, and usually she was ok with it. Usually Ali was perfectly ok knowing that all the kids in their life would pick Ashlyn over her, but not that afternoon. That afternoon her heart broke into a million little pieces and she wasn’t sure exactly why. The more she thought about it the sadder she became until she realized why it hurt so much. Drew was her first born, her sweet boy, her little lookalike who was so full of Krieger genes that it was impossible to mistake him for anything else. Drew was her baby, the only one who had fed from her own breast, her own little mommy’s boy. Now, not only had he just turned 13 fucking years old a couple of weeks ago, now he had told Ali that she wasn’t cool enough for him or his girlfriend. Damn, talk about a sucker punch she hadn’t seen coming. She became vaguely aware that Drew was still talking and tried to focus on his words, hoping they didn’t sting her again.

“So, will you ask her?” he let out a frustrated sigh. “Will you ask Mama to help me on Tuesday?”

“Sure” Ali nodded as she felt her cheeks flush. “I will” she moved towards the door when she felt tears spring to her eyes and quickened her pace.

“Am I done?” Drew looked at the piles his mother had abandoned, not sure what he was supposed to do next.

“No, keep going in here until it’s all done...” she moved into the hall and ran the back of her hand across her eyes, trying desperately not to cry. “I’ll be back in a bit” she choked out before running up to the third floor and closing the door of Meg’s unoccupied room behind her.

It took Ashlyn almost an hour to realize Ali wasn’t with any of the kids or in any of the bathrooms in the house. Finally, she found her forlorn wife sitting sideways on the couch in Meg’s room, her knees pulled up tight to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. The keeper could see the tears that had dried on her cheeks and the red puffiness around her eyes.

“Hey” she said softly as she stuck her head in the door.

“Hey” came the weak reply.

“Can I come in?”

Ali just shrugged so the blonde closed the door behind her and sat in front of her wife on the couch. Ashlyn rubbed her wife’s shins, admiring her bare legs as innocently as possible. She couldn’t figure out what was going on, couldn’t read the vibe from her wife at all. She was clearly upset and sad but she also seemed to be angry too. 

“What’s going on sugarplum?” Ashlyn asked as carefully as she could. “Are you ok?”

Ali didn’t meet her gaze for almost a full minute, but as soon as she lifted her eyes up and saw her sweet keeper’s concerned face staring back at her she felt her own face crumble as new tears fell.

“Aw, baby...what happened? What can I do?” Ashlyn asked as she lifted her wife’s legs up and scooted right up close to her so she could wrap her in a hug.

Ali released her arms from her own legs and fell into her wife’s arms with her legs on top of Ashlyn’s lap. She tucked her head into her keeper’s neck and felt instantly calmer and more at ease. Ashlyn held her for several more minutes as they heard Logan climb up the stairs, sniff the bottom of the door and whine softly. By the time the dog had given up and gone back down to the second floor to check on the kids, Ali sniffled and sat up to wipe her face.

Ashlyn giggled at the sight of her wife’s sad but beautiful face with her mascara running halfway to her chin on each side, even though she tried so hard not to. Ali narrowed her eyes which made Ashlyn fear for her life for a split second.

“No, honey, your mascara...” she tried to explain and defend herself. She grabbed her phone and used the reverse camera so Ali could see herself in it. All the while she kept her other arm protectively across the brunette’s lap holding her legs firmly in place. “I couldn’t help it, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh at you.”

“Oh who cares” Ali rolled her eyes and pushed the phone away. “I’m hideous anyway, what’s a little runny mascara gonna do? Make it worse?”

“Hey, Al, I don’t know what’s going on and I don’t have to” she dropped her phone on the other side of her and got both arms around her distraught wife again. “But you are not hideous. You are soooooo far from being hideous that, like, you couldn’t find hideous on a map with the best GPS in the whole world...” she rambled, starting to get truly worried about her beautiful brunette. 

Ali blinked at her wife a few times, admiring her gorgeous face and marveling at her big beautiful heart. Before she knew it, she felt a smile crease her face, then watched it reflected back in Ashlyn’s loving visage.

“I love you, you big jerk” Ali offered quietly, her face still hard to read.

“I love you too” Ashlyn leaned over and kissed her wife’s lips slowly and carefully, happy to feel the brunette kiss her back lightly. “No matter what.”

“Well that’s good” Ali took a deep breath and exhaled and whined at the same time. “Because I’m officially an uncool, shunable, ‘you can stop here, 2 blocks from where I’m really going, so nobody can see you’ mom and I fear it’s only going to get worse.”

“What are you even talking about” Ashlyn laughed. “You’re funny, but you’re crazy if you think any of that’s true.”

“Oh it’s true. Why do you think I’m hiding up here crying my face off?”

“What? You’re kidding me? What happened?”

Ali gave Ashlyn the blow by blow of her talk with Drew an hour earlier and fought off more tears as she finished the story.

“It’s ok” the brunette sighed but looked happier, in spite of herself. “You can be happy about being the cool mom. I’m jealous but you deserve to gloat. Go ahead.”

“No way” Ashlyn shook her head. “That sucks honey” her face was soft and full of love and tenderness as she caressed Ali’s cheek and then cupped it. “I’m so sorry he hurt you like that. Damn, those kids are so tough” she shook her head as her brow furrowed in protective commiseration. “Do you remember when he wouldn’t go to the mother-son dance with me a few years ago?”

Ali nodded and nuzzled her cheek into her wife’s hand.

“That hurt so much” Ashlyn’s face shifted as she remembered the pain of Drew’s dismissal and judgment. “So fucking much.”

“I remember. I remember being upset with him for hurting your feelings and not even realizing he’d done it. But he was just being a kid. He didn’t do it on purpose” Ali recalled. “And I know it’s the same thing now. He’d probably be really upset if he knew how much his words carved up my heart.” She took another breath and kissed her wife’s hand, still on her cheek. “I’ll be ok. This is the new teenager stuff we have to deal with I guess. Oh goody.”

It was true and they both knew it. They had heard gut-wrenching stories from both the Dwyers and the Crosses about dealing with teenage Cassius and Noah. It was only going to get worse as their adorable elementary school kids turned into miserable hormonal teenagers. There was nothing they could do to stop it. All they could do was stick together and help each other through it as best they could. 

“Do you want me to talk to him?” Ashlyn asked, even though she knew she wouldn’t want that if she were in Ali’s position.

“No, God no” Ali shook her head. “You need to stay the cool mom for as long as you can, Jesus Christ” she rolled her eyes and then laughed. “Otherwise he’ll burn the damned house down trying to impress his girlfriend.”

They were quiet again for a minute, listening to the growing ruckus coming from the floor below them.

“Next time, come tell me, ok?” Ashlyn asked sweetly and sincerely. “I’ll hug you and tell you he’s an idiot and it’ll feel better faster. I promise” she pressed a finger into her wife’s heart for emphasis.

“Ok, deal” Ali agreed with a soft blink of her eyes. “But you have to come tell me too, if it ever happens to you...” she tried to tease but couldn’t quite pull it off.

“I promise” Ashlyn gave her another slow kiss that wasn’t meant to do anything other than remind her beautiful wife just how loved she really was.

They hugged for another few minutes, as the noises below them got louder. The kids must have realized they were less supervised than usual. Ali sighed again but did honestly feel much better. She knew Ashlyn would always have that effect on her and she had never been more grateful for her. Ali gave her wife a squeeze and giggled as she talked.

“Wanna just stay here until they come find us?”


	9. These Nights with You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut warning at the end of the chapter.

Drew’s date went well the following Tuesday night and, as previously arranged, he and Erin broke up on the last day of school two days later. Ashlyn had done her best to cook the meal and help Drew light the candles and pick a playlist and then stay out of the way. She and Logan went upstairs to the master bedroom while Ali took the other kids out for dinner with Ken and Vicki in Ipswich. The keeper kept the door at the top of the backstairs open so she could hear if anything sounded like it needed parental assistance, but everything was quiet in the kitchen below. Ali had gotten over the sting surrounding Drew’s date and sincerely hoped he had a nice time. But she got another stab to the heart a couple of days later when Josie announced that she was too big to have a number birthday cake anymore. Ali didn’t have to defend herself this time, or her awesome number birthday cakes, because Ashlyn shut the objection down post haste.

“Well that’s too bad Jojo, because that’s the cake you’re having at your party tomorrow” the keeper spoke evenly and tried not to lose her temper.

Ashlyn loved Ali’s number birthday cakes more than anybody else did, including both Ali, and Deb who had come up with the idea herself back when Ali and Kyle were just little kids. The keeper had even talked her wife out of abandoning the number 12 cake for Drew last year – insisting that the kids all get one until their 13th birthday. 

Josie blinked up at her mother as they drew together up in the studio the morning of the very first day of summer vacation, Friday June 18th. They were sitting across from each other at the big work table, each one perched on a stool and bent over their own drawing. Ali was downstairs taking the #11 cake out of the oven at that very moment.

“But...”

“No buts about it little miss” Ashlyn lifted her eyes and quirked her eyebrow at the redhead who looked like she had just been slapped.

“But...”

“Nope” Ashlyn shook her head and returned her attention to the drawing in front of her. “It’s not up for debate.”

“But Drew didn’t have to have one...” she whined, pushing her mother’s patience.

“Because he turned 13. Everybody gets one of Mom’s cool number cakes until they’re 13. Period. End of story.”

“I don’t want a stupid number cake” Josie muttered under her breath, but Ashlyn heard her.

“What was that?” the keeper sat up and gave the girl her full attention. “You don’t want a stupid birthday party?” she shrugged, feigning indifference. “Ok then. I’ll start making calls now to all the moms and let them know...” she furthered her point by reaching for her phone and unlocking the screen.

“No! That’s not what I said!” Josie’s entire body was on high alert, her stricken face full of alarm. “I said I don’t want a stupid number cake!” she yelled in a panic.

“No number cake, no party” Ashlyn shrugged again, deadly serious. “I’ll cancel it right now” she held her finger over her phone, ready to push the call button. “You just let me know.”

“What’s going on in here? Why the yelling?” Ali asked as she walked through the open doorway, laundry basket on her hip.

“Mom!” Josie gave the brunette a desperate look as she jumped from the stool and ran to hug her around the waist. “Mama’s gonna cancel my birthday party!”

“Oh” Ali raised her eyebrows and looked at the back of her wife’s figure until Ashlyn turned to face her a few seconds later, phone still in hand. They exchanged a glance and the keeper nodded to let the brunette know everything was under control. “Well, that’s too bad. I was really looking forward to your party.”

“No! Mom, please” the girl begged dramatically, dropping to her knees and clinging to Ali’s leg with her entire body.

“Why is your party being cancelled Jose? Get up honey, and talk to me” she put down the half-full laundry basket and helped her daughter to her feet. She could tell Josie was about to have a full-on temper tantrum and was hoping to avoid it if possible. “What’s the problem?”

Josie stood next to Ali with her eyes down for almost a full minute before she spoke. The brunette looked again at her wife for guidance but Ashlyn just nodded, her face placid as she went back to her drawing.

“Umm...I uhh...I said I didn’t want a number cake” the girl finally rattled off, speaking quickly after a stammering start. “And Mama said I have to have it or I can’t have my party” she whimpered and pouted, hoping for sympathy from the brunette.

“Oh, I see” Ali replied softly and rubbed the redhead’s back as they stood there quietly together.

Ali didn’t care very much whether she made the number cakes or not. But she knew Ashlyn felt very strongly about it. She flashed back to the few times the issue had come up before and smiled as she remembered her keeper explaining to her that she’d never had anybody care enough about her to make her such a special cake like that. Certainly not her own mother, and Gram just never had enough time for that sort of extravagance. Ashlyn had it in her head that Ali baking each child their own numbered birthday cake every year would be one of the defining memories of their kids’ childhoods. Ali had never pushed back very hard against her wife’s wishes in this regard, but, at the same time, felt it might be better if they honored the kids’ wishes when it came to the cake for their own birthday party. The brunette felt like she was stuck in the middle on this issue but she knew she had to back her wife up.

“Well, that’s how birthdays work in this family, right?” Ali gave her daughter a soft smile as she cupped her chin and lifted her sad, fearful face up until they were looking at each other. “Do you wanna help me decorate it tonight?” she made a peace offering. “We can do it however you want. We can stick with one pink 1 and one purple 1 or we can do something totally different. We can make the whole thing striped and multi-colored...”

“How about something like this?” Ashlyn interrupted, holding up the drawing she had just quickly done while Ali was in the room trying to defuse the situation. “What do you think?”

The #11 on the paper was colored in hot pink and black, one number each color, with zigs and zags and thick, heavy black and pink lines augmenting each digit. It looked like a cake one of the more grown-up girls in middle school or high school might even have and Josie’s eyes lit up. The tweens all wanted to be older and Josie and her friends idolized and emulated the older girls they saw. The toys and dolls they played with were similarly decorated as a kind of hybrid goth-punk-cheerleader combination.

“How did you do that?” the redhead moved towards the keeper as the smiles on both their faces grew. “Can we do it like this Mom?” she turned quickly to look at Ali again.

“I don’t see why not” the brunette chuckled and shook her head in amazement at her wife. “Mama might have to help us though” she took a quick picture of the drawing. “And we’ll definitely have to go to the store for the right colors...”

“Can I come with you, please?” Josie jumped in excitement and ran back to hug Ali again. “Pleeeeease?”

Ali gave her wife an appreciative look and Ashlyn winked in reply.

“Sure you can little one” Ali bent down and kissed Josie’s head. “Should we go now?”

“Yes!” the girl grabbed Ali by the hand and led her into the third-floor hallway. “Can Mama come too?”

“I hope so” Ali smiled back at her gorgeous keeper. “What do you think Mama?”

“I wouldn’t miss it” she grinned and then teased. “Besides, you guys might pick the wrong colors or something and we can’t have that, now can we?”

//

Before they knew it, 2 weeks had gone by and they were enjoying the Horribles Parade and 4th of July fireworks with their entire extended family and most of the 4-families too. The big old house was packed to the gills and visiting NYC Kriegers and Harrises made themselves at home. As always, the two, and now three, sets of grandparents who had homes nearby arranged sleepovers and fun activities for the kids. Kyle and Nathan escaped for a long weekend away, leaving Edgar and Cristina with Ashlyn and Ali again. It seemed easier than ever to be together because they had just all seen each other at Kyle’s sober anniversary in early May.

The five girls had more fun at The Academy than they thought was possible. Ali had a blast coaching during the second week and laughing her ass off with Sydney and Ashlyn and the other coaches each night. She made sure that Julie Donaldson, the best next-door neighbor in the world, had signed up for week 2 as the nurse so she could participate in the fun as well. The only thing Ali didn’t like about The Academy was when Ashlyn coached and she didn’t. The keeper slept at the camp on Sunday and Tuesday nights, as she had always done, and Ali hated it. She never liked being apart from her wife for very long, and the every other night thing wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t the end of the world either. But the brunette hated it extra that summer because she knew she was going to be separated from her wife for most of the Olympics as well. She was dreading it and that extra anxiety made the away nights at The Academy even more difficult for her.

Ashlyn hated it too, as always. But at least this year she wouldn’t be away from home for almost a month after just losing her beloved Persey and fighting their asshole neighbor in the driveway. Last year had been tough on the keeper for many reasons and she was optimistic that this year, even though the distance was almost three times as far, would be much easier. She was very excited to have Ali come spend the second half of the trip with her. She was grateful for Meg and Gwen’s company to start out the journey again, but she would be counting the days until her wife was in her arms once more, all the way in Hong Kong.

As they moved through the month of July, getting kids to different summer camps and getting their own work done, Ali and Ashlyn were very aware of the keeper’s Friday July 16th departure date, the end of week 4 of the summer. The Harrises had gone back to Florida, except for Lizzy and Tammye and Carol. Kyle and Nathan were about to go back to NYC on July 18th so Ashlyn hit her brother-in-law up for a night of babysitting. Little did she know that her wife had already planned something out with Kyle for the very same reason.

“Oh I get it” Kyle grinned lasciviously at his sister as they talked at Good Harbor beach one afternoon. They were lying side by side on a big beach blanket, she on her stomach with her head turned to face him, and he on his back. “You need us to babysit so you can give her the kind of send-off she really deserves” he grunted and thrusted his hips up several times to illustrate his point, cackling the whole time.

“Shhh...” Ali hissed as she looked around them at the other people on the beach, many of whom were their own family and children. “For God’s sake” she blushed and was thankful for the sunglasses on her face. “Gross, by the way” she added after she had stopped giggling and he had stopped laughing so loudly at her discomfort. “The less I have to think about you having sex, the better. God.”

“Oh lighten up” he kept teasing, but had at least lowered his voice. “You don’t fool me for a second, sis” he gave her a knowing smirk. “She’s been at The Academy a lot and then she’s going to the Olympics for a month...you’re starting to get desperate. I recognize the signs by now” he laughed again. “You need a little lezzzbian loving night before she ships out. I got you” he emphasized and stretched out both l words in his last sentence and nodded knowingly. “Don’t you worry about a thing.”

As much as she wanted to defend herself and contradict her annoying brother, he was absolutely right and she could do nothing but blush and accept his offer. Two nights before the planned evening away at the Beauport Hotel in Gloucester, Kyle finally told his sister that Ashlyn had asked him to do the same thing. He wasn’t going to get involved in ruining one half of the surprise, but he didn’t want them wasting money on a second hotel room that they certainly didn’t need and definitely wouldn’t be using. Ali agreed to go along with her wife’s plan, but made sure she came prepared with her own bag of tricks too.

Finally, it was Thursday July 15th, Ashlyn’s last night before leaving for Hong Kong. The flight she, Meg and Gwen were on didn’t leave until Friday night so she had Friday morning to enjoy with her wife as well. If everything went according to plan they would need it for some recovery.

Ali had arranged to work from home both Thursday and Friday that week, knowing she would spend a lot of time with Ashlyn and the kids before the blonde left for the Olympics. The keeper left the house Thursday morning as usual during a coaching week at The Academy, and spent the last half day of that week’s camp with the advanced, invitational 11 to 16-year old girls. Instead of hanging out with that week’s visiting coaches at the end of week cook-out as she typically did, the keeper drove home to spend the afternoon with her beautiful brunette. She opened the mudroom door at 2:30pm and was immediately met by a beaming Ali who wrapped her arms around the blonde’s neck and gave her a long, slow kiss while Logan did circles around their legs.

“Hi” Ashlyn breathed out when they broke for air, still holding each other close.

“Hi” the brunette beamed again. “I’m glad you’re home.”

“I can see that” the keeper smirked. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Well, we’re going out tonight and I’m excited” she shrugged. “And I saw that you’re all packed already...”

“Oh you noticed that, did ya?” Ashlyn chuckled. “I’m not perfect, but I do try to learn from my mistakes.”

“You’re about as close to perfect as possible, babe” Ali gave her another deep kiss.

“Did you start drinking without me sugarplum?” the keeper asked, deflecting the sweet compliment as she walked her wife backwards towards the desk and the center of the house. 

“Ha ha, very funny” Ali lightly slapped her keeper’s chest. “I just love you and you’re gonna have to deal with it, and me, tonight.”

“I’m here for the cheesy romance” she wagged her eyebrows and held Ali tightly in her arms. “And the hot sex that comes afterwards...”

“Oh God” Kyle groaned as he came up from the basement and practically ran right into the amorous pair. “Really? Already? You guys are the worst” he teased. “Such cheeseballs” he pretended to gag. “Can’t even wait til you’re out of the damned house huh?”

“Oh shut up you” Ali reached over and smacked her brother’s thick arm as he walked past them into the kitchen. “You’re just jealous because Nate’s not here yet.”

“Oh he’ll be here soon enough” Kyle countered with a flourish. “And we’re gonna do things to each other tonight in that big bed of yours...”

“Ugh...dude...”  
“Gross, Ky!”

“What?” he laughed and made some obscene gestures just to make both women squirm. “Who says you’re the only ones who can have hot sex tonight?”

“Remind me to wash the sheets tomorrow, twice” Ali moaned and chuckled.

“Just burn them” Ashlyn shook her head seriously. “I’m begging you.”

An hour and a half later, after checking into the Beauport Hotel and enjoying a short, open air drive up the coast in the fancy Suburu convertible Ashlyn had arranged to use for the night, the love birds were walking through the familiar streets and ever-changing shops in Rockport. Strolling along the wharf and Bearskin Neck was one of their favorite things to do together. They popped into a handful of different shops to buy silly things they didn’t really need or shouldn’t really eat, but did it anyway. It was that kind of afternoon and evening. 

They were dressed casually but still looked nice and dressier than usual. Ali wore a simple, pastel patterned sundress with thin straps showing off her neck and tanned shoulders, and comfortable sandals. Her shoulder-length hair was down and she spent much of her time brushing it out of her face and tucking it behind her ears. She so often wore it up in a bun or ponytail but she knew Ashlyn liked to see it down so she put up with the windblown locks for her keeper. Ashlyn had knee-length, white, Bermuda shorts with a pair of well-worn but still good-looking low-rise Vans. She wore a close-fitting pink t-shirt, one of her own designs with a central circle full of busy black and grey lines that took up most of the front of the garment. There was a dark blue long-sleeved linen button-up shirt tied around her waist in case either of them got chilly. They both wore sunglasses and Ali carried a small purse strapped diagonally across her body as they held hands and kept their shoulders close together.

“Are you sure you’re ok with not getting all dressed up tonight...” Ashlyn asked for the fourth time since she had made it home from The Academy that afternoon. Ali cut her off.

“Babe, stop asking me that” Ali leaned up and pecked her cheek with a giggle. “I love our afternoon. This is exactly what I want to be doing. And I’m wearing exactly what I want to be wearing. And you look super hot so I love that we’re not getting all dressed up tonight.”

“Super hot huh?” Ashlyn chuckled.

“I call ‘em like I see ‘em” Ali grinned and kissed her wife’s cheek again. “Super hot is probably an understatement if I’m being totally honest.”

“Oh yeah?” 

“Absolutely, All-star.”

It was the same debate Ashlyn had every time she tried to plan an evening with her wife. She knew they both loved to get all dolled up and hit the town for fancy dinner and dancing. That wasn’t going to change any time soon. At least she hoped it never would. But that plan took time and energy to execute. They both took a lot longer to get ready. It would take an hour to drive into Boston. Every part of it, while being fun and exciting, took a lot of time. Alternately, a lovely stroll through Rockport, followed by dinner watching the sunset and maybe a cruise around Rockport Harbor meant they had a lot more time to spend together on their last night before the keeper flew halfway around the world for 3-1/2 weeks. Ashlyn’s fear was that they would opt for the stroll and sunset dinner so often that eventually they wouldn’t even consider the other plan at all. And that wouldn’t be good. But that was a worry for another day. It was a beautiful summer evening and the breeze off the ocean was keeping the bugs away and the humidity at bay. Ashlyn couldn’t think of anything she would change about their time together so far that afternoon or evening. They talked about the kids and cousins and their adventures at music camp that week, as well as getting caught up on gossip and events from Knight-Harris and The Academy. 

They both avoided talking about Hong Kong. As much as they wanted to discuss the interesting places they’d found to explore during their upcoming trip, they both knew that talking about Hong Kong would only make them sad that night. Hong Kong was the reason Ashlyn would be leaving for another extended trip. Neither woman complained much about those trips though. They knew how good they had it. After dealing with Ashlyn’s extensive travels with her teams during her NWSL career, this one big trip a year was a piece of cake. Both women travelled 5 or 6 times a year on much shorter, often one- or two-night stays, trips for K-H or MHI business, and those were never too bothersome either. If they could make the trip together, they always did, but typically they left one parent at home to deal with the kids. They were still saving up the grandparent babysitting tokens for bigger trips they might take together, like the Grenada trip with the 4-family grown-ups or the upcoming 11 days in Hong Kong together.

“How’s your pasta?” Ashlyn asked as they ate dinner deckside, overlooking the Back Harbor and the very earliest beginnings of what was sure to be a glorious sunset.

Ali had ordered an angel hair pasta dish with sautéed shrimp and lots of garlic. Ashlyn had followed suit with her own grilled chicken entree including garlic as well, reminding both women of Gram’s sage advice – ‘always make sure your date orders garlic too’. 

“Delicious” Ali gave her wife a thumbs up and took another sip of wine. “Nice and light, just what I was looking for” she winked.

Ashlyn felt her face flush and decided she should slow down on her second whiskey drink of the meal. She knew precisely what her wife meant and loved the fact that Ali was trying not to eat something that would make her feel too full afterwards. Nothing was less sexy than feeling bloated and uncomfortable from stuffing your face with too much heavy food.

When they had finished their dinner it was 7:30pm and there were about 45 minutes left before the sun was totally set. 

“Wanna drive to Halibut Point for the sunset?” Ashlyn asked as she put her long arm around her wife’s shoulders and eased their way into the busy sidewalk full of tourists and townies alike.

“Or...we could get ice cream and walk down to Front Beach” the brunette’s eyes sparkled at the idea. “Whatever you want, babe” she looked adoringly up into her favorite hazel eyes. “They both sound good to me.”

20 minutes later they sat side by side in the sand, bare toes buried and bodies pressed closely together. Ashlyn held a big cup with three scoops of ice cream in it, each a different flavor because Ali hadn’t been able to make up her mind. They each used a spoon, with the brunette leaning in extra close to the keeper every time she dipped hers into the cup. Ali shivered, mostly from the ice cream, and Ashlyn chivalrously put the linen shirt around her wife’s shoulders after carefully getting up and moving down wind to shake the sand off of it first. Nobody liked sand in their ice cream. By 8:15pm the nightly light show was almost finished, as was the ice cream. Ali bent her head down and rested it on her wife’s shoulder while Ashlyn wrapped her arm around the brunette’s waist, holding her close and rubbing her arm every once in a while to help her lose the chill.

“I love these nights with you, like this” Ali’s soft voice was just loud enough for Ashlyn to hear it over the waves and the breeze and the seagulls overhead. “I can’t believe I get to live my life with you, like this. I love you so much Ashlyn.”

Things were much different and emotions were running a lot hotter two hours later. Ashlyn and Ali had driven back to the hotel and enjoyed an eager round one of sex, unable to control themselves until the first satisfying orgasms had been achieved. They lay panting on the big hotel bed, side by side with their shoulders and hips as close together as possible. After a couple of minutes of gentle playing with each other’s hands on top of Ashlyn’s thigh, Ali rolled onto her side and purred into her wife’s ear.

“I need 5 minutes” she tugged lightly on the keeper’s earlobe with her teeth. “Will you get some things out of my bag for me, please?” she asked as she rolled away towards the side of the bed, stood up, and walked as fast as she dared to the bathroom. She wanted to jog because she was dying to get back into bed with her sexy wife, but she wanted to try and maintain a seductive, sultry vibe too. She had plans for round 2 and didn’t want to lose the mood before it started.

“What things?” Ashlyn asked, still a little foggy from her orgasm and her naked wife and their titillating time together.

“You’ll figure it out” Ali called from the bathroom as she closed the door behind her with a husky giggle. 

“Figure it out...” Ashlyn muttered as she got out of bed with a sigh and moved to the suitcase they had packed together that afternoon. “What bag are you even talking about?” she asked rhetorically as she thought back to when they left the house. 

She had carried the suitcase down the backstairs herself and put it in the trunk of the convertible. She remembered Ali’s tiny purse from walking around Rockport, and her bigger, everyday purse that the tiny purse had come out of before they got out of the car. She could see both items on the hotel room desk. 

“What bag...?” she asked herself out loud again as she scanned the dresser area where they had opened the suitcase and spread some things out. 

Finally, just as she was about to give up and wait for better instructions from the brunette, Ashlyn saw the small black gym bag that they only used for one thing. 

“Ahh...” she grinned and felt excitement flutter in her stomach as she put the bag on the foot of the bed and unzipped it. “What do we have in here?” her voice was light and giddy as she pulled things from the bag and set them on the bed, her excitement growing by the minute. 

Ali worked as quickly as she could in the bathroom, cursing her still-sweaty skin that was making it harder to get the lingerie in place on her body. It took longer than she wanted to squeeze herself into the tight, sheer, crop top and sporty boy short lingerie that she had ordered especially for that night. The outfit was supposed to look like a sports uniform but the end result made it hard to tell what sport they had originally been aiming for. The crop top had sleeves that went half way down to her elbows with a hot pink stripe and a white stripe wrapped around each arm up near the bicep like an American football jersey would have. The top itself stopped just below Ali’s breasts where another hot pink stripe, this one with elastic inside it, defined the bottom of the garment and matched the hot pink trim of the deep v-neck opening. The material was black but it was so see-through that it looked almost light grey against the brunette’s skin. The only area you couldn’t see through was at Ali’s left breast where the number 24, in white numerals, had been custom stitched. 

The boyshorts were just as sheer and just as tight and very very short. There was about 8” of material from the top of them, which hit just at the brunette’s hips, to the bottom of them which came down to Ali’s crotch. A wide pink vertical stripe ran up the side at each of her hips and pink laces adorned the front of the shorts, finishing in a loosely tied bow at the waistband that was just begging to be tugged on. There was a 1” strip of dull metal studs that surrounded the top of the shorts that went all the way around Ali’s body. The sparkling detail matched the costume jewelry cuff bracelets that decorated the half gloves on each hand. The fishnet style material covered half of the brunette’s hands, looped over her thumbs and extended halfway up her forearms. Ali quickly secured the 1” choker around her neck that matched the dull studs and the costume jewelry and contemplated what to do with her hair and whether or not she had time to apply the eye black to her cheekbones.

“Baby, you’re killing me” Ashlyn’s impatient voice sounded from just outside the door, making the brunette jump a little and then stifle a nervous giggle.

“I’ll be right out” she tried to keep her voice low and sultry as she pulled her hair up into a high, tight bun, deciding to bypass the eye black. “Go wait on the bed” she commanded, pleased with the authoritative tone she had managed to pull off.

She heard Ashlyn’s head thud quietly against the door with a small moan from the blonde. 

“Absolutely killing me...” the keeper’s plaintive voice sounded as she followed instructions. “If you don’t hurry up I’m gonna start playing with this stuff by myself...” she started to threaten as she flopped onto the bed like a petulant child.

“No need for that now, All-star” Ali chuckled, low in her throat as she emerged from the bathroom and sauntered towards the bed. She sucked in a quick breath when she felt the cooler air of the bigger room hit her still-damp folds through the sizable opening in the crotch of the boy shorts. The sight of her hot and bothered, and slightly annoyed, wife was more than Ali could handle and keep a straight face. “I’m right here, and I’m ready to play...”

When she caught sight of the brunette, Ashlyn sat up straight while her jaw dropped open and her eyes went wide. As if she hadn’t been worked up enough after unpacking the toys Ali had brought...here was her gorgeous fucking wife decked out in sexy, sporty lingerie and ready to fucking play! A small whimper escaped Ashlyn’s throat and she felt her heart start to pound with excitement.

“Jesus fucking Christ...” she mumbled as Ali got to the edge of the bed with the sexiest smirk she’d seen in a long time. “You look incredible...”

“Thank you baby...” Ali pursed her lips and pouted as she did a slow 360 degree turn, bending over and rolling her hips and ass at just the right moments along the way. “You look pretty amazing yourself” the brunette gave her wife a slow and sultry once over, biting her lip and humming her approval to really sell it. She saw Ashlyn squirm and bring her legs together, looking for some relief for the ache in her core. “Don’t you worry, I’m gonna take good care of you...All-star.”

Ashlyn watched the brunette move to the foot of the bed and take her time considering each of the items there. The keeper got on her knees and moved across the bed to meet her there, heart still pounding at the sight of Ali. She had just noticed the #24 and the choker.

“What do you want me to use first?” Ali’s words dripped with desire and she bit her bottom lip again and ran her hands up her bare torso to tease her nipples beneath the sheer top.

“Fuck...” was all Ashlyn could get out of her mouth as she watched her wife’s sensual display.

“Yes, but how am I gonna fuck you?” Ali chuckled again, loving the power she felt in that moment. “With this?” she held up the U-shaped double-ended dildo that they liked when they had time to get their rhythm right and really synchronize their movements as they held each other close and moved together as one. “Or...this?” she lifted the thigh strap-on, knowing it wouldn’t be Ashlyn’s choice at that time. She knew her keeper would want to have Ali up top and on display so she could look at her while they fucked.

“This one” Ashlyn surprised them both by reaching out and picking up the more traditional strap-on without any hesitation. 

Ali smirked as she leaned forward and captured Ashlyn’s lips in a slow, sloppy kiss. She pulled back when she felt the keeper try to deepen it further.

“You’d better help me put it on.”

Ashlyn swallowed hard and scampered off the bed, grabbing the long, slender dildo and the harness that Ali always wore. She was on her knees in front of Ali within seconds and the view from the new angle made her head spin. The sight of dark curls trapped behind the sheer boyshorts made her moan out loud and close her eyes for a second.

“See something you like?” Ali ran a hand through her wife’s hair and then used Ashlyn’s head for support while she lifted her foot and slid it up the keeper’s bare thigh towards her exposed crotch.

“So much” Ashlyn gasped out and grinned like a fool at everything in front of her.

“Let’s go” Ali urged, pulling her foot away from her wife’s mound and slowly wiggling it between them. “We’ve got a game to play...”

Ashlyn fumbled with the harness in her hand and secured the dark blue dildo into it. She used both hands to open the harness wide and watched as Ali stepped into it, one leg at a time, still using the blonde head for support. The keeper let out a loud groan as she pulled the harness and dildo up her wife’s hips and into place.

“This is...convenient” she purred as she let her long fingers find the opening in the crotchless boyshorts. She moved her whole hand through Ali’s drenched lips, loving the way the brunette shuddered at the touch but didn’t pull away or restrict her. 

“That’s enough” Ali declared after a minute of the tantalizing contact, standing up straighter and removing her hand from Ashlyn’s head. “Make sure it’s nice and ready” she nodded down at the dildo and then steeled herself for the waves of pleasure that she was going to feel as the keeper lubed up the toy. 

Every stroke sent a bolt of pleasure into Ali’s clit but she was determined to keep all of her focus on Ashlyn. She was going to give her sexy keeper something to think about until they saw each other again in Hong Kong in 2 weeks. It took all of her willpower to resist letting Ashlyn take over – one hand at her clit and the other already tightly grabbing at her ass as she completed her task.

“All ready” she pressed a kiss into the top of Ali’s thigh and untangled the pink laces of the boyshorts from the harness. Nothing wrong with keeping the uniform looking good too.

“Good. Now get on the bed” the brunette nodded at the bed and tried not to giggle at how fast her wife jumped onto it. Only Ashlyn could be so fucking sexy and adorable at the same damned time. “No, on your back” she instructed and moved to the other side of the bed, back in control again. “Come over here” she pointed to the spot in front of her after getting on the bed and kneeling upright. 

Ali licked her lips at a new thought, leaning over to grab the small vibrator that could be worn as a ring. The band was expandable, and she slid her right thumb through it as Ashlyn’s eyes got darker and darker.

“You gonna use that on me too?” she asked eagerly, her voice cracking slightly as she lay flat on her back in front of her beautiful brunette, her legs spread out wide to each side. She automatically grabbed a pillow and shoved it under her hips and lower back as she watched Ali put the ring in place on her thumb. “Shit, baby...”

“We’ll see” the brunette teased and then held her breath for a second as she took in the sight of her gorgeous keeper spread out in front of her. For a brief second she faltered. She almost gave in to her desire and impatience and dove headfirst into that beautiful pussy. But she caught herself and bit the inside of her own cheek, hard, to try and stay in control. “Put your legs all the way up, hold them for me.”

She waited while Ashlyn pulled her long legs up and back. The keeper grabbed onto her own calves and pressed her knees back almost into the bed on either side of her shoulders, resting them on her biceps instead. She felt her stomach flip flop and her heart practically skip a beat as she stared up into hungry, dark, chocolate eyes.

“Oh God...don’t tease me baby...I can’t take it, not tonight” Ashlyn shook her head seriously as she watched Ali take a step closer on her knees. “Please...not tonight...”

The brunette put both hands under Ashlyn’s ass and massaged it as they stared at each other. She moved her hands up to the inside of Ashlyn’s thighs and saw her keeper’s pussy lips twitch in anticipation. Ali felt her own core throb and fought the urge to relieve the ache herself. Instead, she pushed the tip of the strap-on into the blonde’s folds and let it slide up and down for a few seconds while Ashlyn moaned and whined and begged for more contact.

“Please Al, I’m not kidding, I can’t take it...it’s too much...I need you...”

Ali let one hand reach out and travel up the back of her wife’s thigh while she used her other hand to find Ashlyn’s entrance. She let her fingers open the wet, swollen lips and then eased the toy through them. They both moaned as the dark blue tip disappeared inside the keeper, slowly, half inch by half inch, until it was all the way in.

“Fuck” Ali whimpered, unable to stop the sound before it left her lips. The way Ashlyn’s walls were already pressing in on the dildo felt wonderful. Ali knew that every thrust was going to bring her pleasure too and she felt light-headed for a second.

“Fuck me baby” Ashlyn’s voice was clear and steady and she looked into her wife’s eyes with complete clarity and sense of purpose. “Fuck me. Fuck me so hard I’ll think about it every night I try to fall asleep in some strange hotel without you...”

Ali let her hands move up her wife’s body to find her breasts, their nipples already stiffening. She played with the beautiful pink buds until they were hard as rocks, never once breaking eye contact with her keeper. They both knew the brunette would give Ashlyn exactly what she wanted. And they both knew she wouldn’t make her wait much longer either. But for those two wonderful agonizing minutes, they both played along with the teasing game, if for no other reason than to be able to say they had done it. They so rarely took the time to do things like this that they both knew it was important, without even talking about it, to at least give it the old college try.

“I love you” Ali mumbled against her wife’s lips as she bent over and kissed her fiercely, loving the way their tongues danced together.

Ashlyn jutted her hips up, unable to wait another second, as they began another heated kiss after the first one. 

“Fuck me” she grunted and bit Ali’s lip hard.

“Ow!” the brunette straightened up, eyes flashing. “You want me to fuck you?” she licked her own lip and began to thrust the dildo inside her keeper, slowly but steadily.

“Yes baby!” Ashlyn pressed her head back into the bed and held tightly to her own legs as Ali finally got started. 

“I’ll fuck you, All-star” she watched her wife’s breasts bouncing along as she picked up the pace. “I wore this uniform for you tonight...look at it” she waited for Ashlyn to open her eyes and focus them on the sporty lingerie.

“Unnnhhh...” Ashlyn moaned and smiled as the steady pressure started to make her whole body tingle. “I see it baby. I see you...unnnhhh...fuck...” she gasped as Ali increased the tempo another notch. “Mmmmm...I love you...”

“I wore this so every time...you see one of those beautiful young women...in their uniforms...” she had to pause for breath because she was pumping hard and fast now...”you’ll think of this, of us tonight...of me...fucking you...”

“Oh Jesus Ali, yes...yes baby...unnnhhh...you’re all I think about...mmmmm...fuck...” Ashlyn was panting and gasping as she tried to tell her wife what was deep in her heart while her entire body shook from the pounding Ali was giving her. “You’re all I...unnnhhhh...you’re all I ever want...” she arched her back up off the bed and started to let her legs flop around as her arms got confused about what they were supposed to be doing. “Oh fuck...unnnnhhhh...mmmmmm...yes baby...fuck, yes...”

The brunette was working hard to bring her wife to the edge. She was using all her willpower to stay focused and ignore the delicious pleasure every single thrust brought to her own clit from the back of the strap-on. She was hot and sweaty and uncomfortable in her get-up but there was no way she was going to stop now. She knew Ashlyn was close. Hell, she had been close before they even got started and they both knew it. Ali was holding onto her wife’s hip, her left hand squeezed between Ashlyn’s bent up leg and her body, connecting them and tethering them while the increasing thrusts tried to push them apart. Ashlyn’s eyes started to lose focus and her head lolled from side to side as she got closer and closer to her release. Ali watched her and took it all in, the way her keeper’s body rocked up and down, the sound their skin made as it slapped together where Ashlyn was open and exposed, the way her legs fell farther to the side every few seconds, the mewls and moans coming from her slackening mouth, the way her chest and neck flushed as her excitement and arousal grew greater and stronger, the way her erect nipples stood up straight and tall and perfectly pink. Fuck, the brunette loved having sex with her wife. 

“Who fucks you?” Ali husked out, knowing she was about to run out of gas.

“You...you do, baby...Mmmm...you fuck me...unnhhhh...so good...” Ashlyn’s eyes were barely open as she weakly tried to move her hand to her own clit.

“That’s...fucking...right...” the brunette was having a hard time talking at the moment. She slapped the keeper’s hand away. “That’s my fucking clit...”

Ali raked her right hand down Ashlyn’s body, scratching lightly, until she got to her keeper’s mound. She tugged on the short hair there and used her fingers to slide the vibrating part of the ring around on her thumb, turning it on at the same time. The buzzing sound filled the air and Ashlyn tried to lift her head up so she could see what her wife was doing to her. The brunette lowered her vibrating thumb and pressed it against her keeper’s aching, swollen clit. Ashlyn let out a long, low moan that got louder and longer as she chased her orgasm.

“Yes...yes...yes...” she repeated over and over, getting louder and louder every few seconds while Ali applied more pressure to her sensitive bundle of nerves and aimed the dildo up into her wife’s g-spot. It only took a minute longer. “YES!!!!!” Ashlyn shouted as she used both hands to push Ali away from her clit and back out of her pussy. She curled up and rolled onto her side with both hands between her legs trying to hold the pleasure inside for as long as possible as her body shook and spasmed. “Mmmm...oh my fucking God...” she moaned.

Ali sat back on her heels, exhausted and panting for breath. The push from her keeper had almost knocked her backwards off the bed but she regained her balance. She watched the love of her life ride out her powerful orgasm. She admired the pale, beautiful skin she could see among all the tattoos. She felt great satisfaction seeing that it was much more pink than usual. The brunette watched every shockwave ripple through her wife’s gorgeous body and felt her own heart overflow with love. Despite her uncontrollable jealousy, Ali knew her wife would never stray. She had complete faith in her keeper and nothing would change that. But she also knew they were going to be apart for almost 2 weeks and she wanted to do something a little extra to make sure they both remembered what they had to look forward to after their reunion. One of them always seemed to step up and pull a little magic out of their hat before one of Ashlyn’s trips. Just a little something to carry them both through their time alone. Ali smiled, pleased with the results of her endeavor that night. Her own pussy was dying for some attention but all she felt like doing in that moment was curling up behind her sweet keeper and holding her close.

“Mmmmm...so good...” Ashlyn turned her head, her eyes still closed and her breathing still labored, when she felt her beautiful brunette wrap her up from behind. All the strange textures of the lingerie confused her for a second but then she chuckled when she realized what it was. “Best uniform...ever...” she backed up into her wife for even more contact as the smile on her face grew wider. “Thanks baby” she chuckled again and took a bigger breath and smiled broadly. “I am definitely gonna be feeling that in Hong Kong.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP Toni Morrison. She was my favorite writer and I am very sad.  
> "You your best thing Sethe. You are."  
> -Paul D. from 'Beloved'


	10. Hong Kong - Olympics 2032

Beijing, in the Northeastern part of China, had very successfully hosted the summer Olympics back in 2008. They had used two stadiums in Beijing itself for soccer, including the striking ‘Birds Nest’ that was properly called the National Stadium. Four other stadiums, located in four nearby cities, were also used to showcase all of the soccer matches played from the early Group stages up through the Gold medal match at the end. For the 2032 Olympics, the organizers were using the same strategy but moving the location down to the Southeastern part of the country and centering it around Guangzhou, Macao, and Hong Kong. Technically, Hong Kong and Macao were both independent city-states that weren’t under the direct control of the Chinese government. In the last decade or so, the two immense and prosperous cities had improved relations with China, which was how they were able to co-host the 2032 Olympics. It was a big improvement from the past. Back in 2008, the government of China refused to allow athletes from Hong Kong to compete with them. 

Hong Kong 2032 was one of the most modern Olympic games in history with high-speed trains connecting different host cities along the Southeastern coast of China. One of the longest bridges in the world ran between Hong Kong and Macao, spanning the Pearl River Delta where several different rivers emptied into the South China Sea. Everything was big and bright and fast and frenetic in the megalopolis. Macao was sometimes still known as the ‘Vegas of China’ but it had far surpassed the American city by 2032. Still, it was an apt nickname that failed only in size and scope. Guangzhou was the Chinese city that anchored the Olympics for China and it was located a short distance to the North of the coast. Shenzhen was the Chinese city that was closest to Hong Kong, located directly North of it and completing the triumvirate, with Macao and Hong Kong, known as the Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region. The Pearl River DMR was a megacity and nothing in the United States came close to it in any way. Some people saw that as a good thing, while others felt the opposite. 

Guangzhou was the center of the soccer world for those 3-1/2 weeks, boasting the largest stadium in the 2032 Olympics. The Guangdong Olympic Stadium, 80k capacity, hosted the opening and closing ceremonies as well, and was the biggest venue in the games. A second stadium in Guangzhou, the Tianhe Stadium, 59k capacity, and a third stadium in Shenzhen, the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre, 60k capacity, were the three locations closest to the hub of the games. The other three stadiums used were located to the West, East and South. Wuyvan River Stadium, 42k capacity, was in the city of Haikou which was located on an island just South of the Pearl River DMR. Guangxi Sports Center Stadium, 60k capacity, in the city of Nanning, was located to the west. And the Fujian Tianxin Stadium, 60k capacity, was in Fuzhou, a city to the East on the coast very near the island of Taiwan. All 6 venues were in excellent condition and the soccer matches were all immensely popular and well-attended.

The only thing better than the field conditions and locker room accommodations was the soccer itself. The women’s game had been improving steadily for the past two decades and the quality and technicality of play had never been better. China was still ass-backwards in many ways, politically. But they got their shit together and pulled off an incredible Olympic experience. Ashlyn and the other LGBTQ members of the broadcast team had decided to be openly supportive of the gay athletes in the Games while they were there on the biggest stage in the world. They didn’t always use their words blatantly, instead using sartorial touches to convey their message. Let’s just say there were a lot of rainbow everything being worn on camera for every single game they covered.

As always, the Olympic schedule was hectic and demanding for the soccer teams. That meant the same for Ashlyn and her colleagues. By the time Meg and her college teammate and bestie Gwen left to fly back to Boston, the USWNT had won their Group and was preparing to play the World Cup champion England team in their quarterfinal elimination game. It was payback time and the US was looking for revenge against the team that had beaten them a year earlier to claim the World Cup. Both teams were very much the same as they had been last summer in terms of line-ups with only a couple of changes each. The Olympic roster was smaller, only 18 players instead of the 23 allowed on the World Cup teams. The game was scheduled for Friday July 30th in Shenzhen and the whole women’s soccer world was chomping at the bit for kick-off to arrive.

Ashlyn was just trying to survive. The keeper had said goodbye to Meg and Gwen on the morning of Wednesday the 28th, the day after the final group stage game. She got settled into her hotel room in Shenzhen and got to work on analyzing the goalkeepers remaining in the competition. She was trying not to think about the 6 hours she had to kill before she could go to the airport and pick Ali up at 4pm. She was finding it hard to concentrate at all.

“What’s wrong Ash” the brunette frowned when they met at the airport that afternoon. She held her keeper at arm’s length so she could get a good look at her.

Ashlyn tried to complete the interrupted hug but didn’t have the strength to push through her wife’s arms.

“Had a bad night” the blonde shook her head but kept the weak smile on her face. “Couldn’t sleep” she tried to make the smile bigger, to make it match the joy she felt in her heart at seeing her beautiful brunette after 12 long days without her. “You know I don’t sleep for shit without you.”

“Ashlyn” Ali’s eyes were laser focused on her pale, sweaty, slightly woozy wife. “What’s the matter with you? You’re sick baby. What is it?” she pulled the keeper into a hug and squeezed her gently as the rest of the bustling airport went about their business around them.

It was almost 6am the next time Ali heard her keeper’s voice.

“What...time...is it?” Ashlyn croaked out into the dark hospital room.

“Hey, hi there” Ali replied, her voice full of sleep and worry as she picked her head up and turned to face her keeper. The brunette was sitting in a chair next to her wife’s hospital bed, leaning her head and chest over the edge of the mattress and holding Ashlyn’s hand. “Man, am I glad to hear your voice, babe.”

“Where...?” Ashlyn frowned and rubbed her eyes with her free hand, hissing in pain as the IV tube tugged at her skin when she moved it.

“Just relax honey” Ali stood up, wincing as her stiff body reacted to the sudden movement after being asleep for a couple of hours in that uncomfortable position. “You’re ok. You’re in the hospital...”

“What time is it?!” the blonde’s eyes focused for a fleeting moment and filled with urgency as she tried to sit up.

Ali held her down, one hand on each shoulder and spoke evenly, wondering if her wife was still feverish and not really on the road to recovery yet.

“It’s almost 6am on Thursday, you’re ok Ash. You don’t have to be anywhere right now. I promise” Ali kissed her keeper’s forehead and was happy to feel cool skin beneath her lips.

“Thursday?” Ashlyn frowned again and shook her head lightly as her wife released her and sat on the edge of the bed, holding her hand and cupping her cheek with a relieved smile on her face. “What happened to the rest of Wednesday?”

“Oh sweetheart, you were sick” Ali explained, tilting her head to the side and smiling down at her confused wife. “They think it was food poisoning. You passed out at the airport...”

“Food poisoning?”

“Probably explains why you had such a bad sleep last night, well, Tuesday night. Did you throw up or have diarrhea or anything?”

Ashlyn thought for a minute, trying to push through the residual fog in her brain. As she pieced together Tuesday – the third and final group stage game, going back to the hotel in Fuzhou with Meg and Gwen after celebrating with the team and her broadcast colleagues, her heart dropped.

“Aw baby” the keeper’s face scrunched up and her bottom lip trembled as she tried not to cry. “Your birthday...” she whimpered as tears started to slide down her cheeks.

“Hey, honey, it’s ok” Ali cooed as she shifted position and lay down on her side, right up next to her upset wife. “Don’t cry baby, please...” she kissed Ashlyn’s cheek, taking care of the tears there as she tried to reassure the blonde. “Listen, baby, listen...” she turned her wife’s face towards her and kept one hand on her cheek, wiping the tears from there as well. “We can celebrate my birthday when you’re feeling better. Please don’t worry about that now my love.” She was encouraged by Ashlyn breathing more evenly and her tears slowing down. “There, that’s my girl. All I needed for my birthday was to see you again, and I got that. I’m so glad to be here with you. My poor baby.”

They held each other for a few minutes, with Ali doing most of the work. Ashlyn’s fever had broken and the IV had helped rehydrate her but she was still weak and woozy. It wasn’t how either of them had planned their first morning together in Hong Kong, but they were together, and in each other’s arms, and that was always a good thing.

“I’m so glad you’re here” the keeper’s voice was small but sincere.

“Me too” Ali nodded and giggled. “I’m a mess” she glanced down at the outfit she’d been wearing for two days by that point, selected for comfort during travel and not much else. “I probably stink too. Sorry.”

“Yeah, that’s what it was” Ashlyn chuckled and pulled her wife closer. “That’s what made me pass out. Forget food poisoning” they both laughed.

“It’s good to hear you laugh. You had me scared there for a while” Ali admitted.

“Sorry. Definitely not what I had planned” the keeper chuckled again. “How did you get me here? Did I really pass out?”

“You did” the brunette let her fingers trace soft patterns across Ashlyn’s chest, wandering across her neck and jaw and chin. “Wu, the driver, he was there with you and he helped me get you into the car and then drove us here.”

“Wu” Ashlyn nodded in recognition. “He’s great. Wu” she nodded again. “I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere without Wu” she rolled her eyes. “None of us would.”

The broadcast team had found it difficult to navigate the country in general and the immense city in particular and were very thankful for the 4 drivers that they shared for the duration of the Olympics. The drivers functioned as guides and translators too, truly irreplaceable for all of the Americans who found themselves so far out of their element in the foreign country.

“Well, I didn’t know who he was at first” Ali laughed as she explained her panic at the airport the afternoon before. “But he kept saying your name. I finally got Heather on the phone and she confirmed it. So I let him do his thing.” She studied her wife’s face for another minute. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m tired. Really tired. And hungry, I think” she frowned. “Don’t quote me on that one though. Not sure yet.”

“You look a lot better than you did at the airport, that’s for sure. God, you scared me Ash.”

“Just a little food poisoning, no biggie” she tried to play it off but she wasn’t doing well enough for any extra zingers or jokes just yet.

“Settle down there delicate one” Ali chuckled. “Let’s just see what the doctor says.”

The doctor let Ali take her keeper back to the hotel later that afternoon, after he was satisfied with her rehydration. The brunette made phone calls to update Heather O’Reilly and texted the rest of the broadcast team who were all very worried about Ashlyn. The keeper herself managed to talk to the producer later in the day to go over the schedule and discuss their options.

“I’m not missing the game” Ashlyn stated emphatically, back at the hotel Thursday night. Her conversation with Ali echoing the phone call she had made to her producer earlier. “They can hook me up to a damned IV under the desk or something.”

“Yeah, that’s not how that works babe” Ali chuckled and was about to make a joke about gravity, but then swallowed hard when she saw the fire in her keeper’s eyes. It reminded her of so many times when Ashlyn had fought through illness or injury to take the pitch with her teammates back in her playing days. She knew there was no arguing with the blonde about it. “Ok, well, then let’s get you as healthy as we can. Ready for some soup?”

Ashlyn didn’t leave their hotel room until it was time to make the short drive to the stadium Friday to get ready for the broadcast. The game started at 7:30pm local time and Ali had done the best she could to get her keeper rested and fed well enough so she could go on live tv and not embarrass herself, or her country. The make-up artist worked her magic too, somehow putting some color in Ashlyn’s face to mask how pale she actually was. Everybody on the broadcast team knew they’d have to step it up and help the keeper out that night, and they were happy to do it. One or the other of them had been in similar situations either last year at the World Cup in England or earlier this year during some of the Olympic qualifying matches they had covered. It was nice having everybody back again. It allowed for better communication and an easier back and forth among the 6 former players. Alex Morgan, Sammy Mewis, Tierna Davidson, Alex Scott, and Ashlyn had been the team for the 2031 World Cup with Heather O’Reilly taking on the moderator and wrangler role of the group. Those 6 experts were back, with the addition of Mallory Pugh who had been too angry about not making the roster the year before. After several months to cool off she was transitioning into her new role as young analyst. She wasn’t picking it up as quickly as Tierna had last year, but she was doing ok. 

“Geez, it’s always something with you Harris” Alex Stone rolled her eyes, teasing the keeper as they all got into their positions at the broadcast desk. “Last year we were cutting up your food for you because you only had one bloody hand...now what? We’re supposed to catch you before you hit the floor if you pass out?”

Everybody laughed, even Sammy Mewis through their earpieces – she was stationed down on the pitch to give the viewers a sneak peek at field conditions and atmosphere. 

“Yes, for Christ’s sake, someone hold her up if she starts to go down” the producer added seriously which only made them all laugh harder.

They had already made sure Ashlyn was located in the chair on the other end of the broadcast desk from HAO. As the host or moderator, one of the cameras was trained on Heather at all times so they could cut back to her and go to a quick break if anything crazy happened. Nobody really thought Ashlyn was going to pass out again, but if she needed to leave for whatever reason they wanted to be able to focus on HAO while the keeper exited. Ali thought the whole thing was ridiculous and that her wife should be back in the hotel room in bed. But she knew it was pointless to argue with her stubborn keeper, so she tried to be supportive. Instead of sitting with the other family members in the broadcast suite in the stadium to watch the game, Ali watched from the separate ‘green room’ just off to the side of the broadcast desk, just in case Ashlyn needed her for something. 

7:30pm Friday in Shenzhen, or Hong Kong, meant that it was 7:30am Friday back in Gloucester. Hong Kong was a full 12 hours ahead and, so far, it had been easy to make that work for Ashlyn to Facetime the kids back home. The kids could remember it pretty easily and it was just simpler than many of the other time change adjustments they’d had to make over the years. Mornings and evenings were when they talked and, when possible, Ali had just propped the iPad up on the nook table at home for breakfast and Ashlyn joined them that way. It was the easiest morning chaos the keeper had ever experienced. Now that both moms were across the world, the kids wanted to Facetime more and Deb, Tammye and Carol tried to accommodate them. As the much-anticipated US v England quarterfinal knock-out game started, Ali’s phone rang and she grinned instantly when she saw her mom and children Facetiming her.

“Hey you guys! Good morning!” she beamed into her phone, ignoring the roar of the crowd as kickoff happened down on the pitch. “How did everybody sleep?”

The brunette felt the combined volume and energy of the responses hit her in the face and chuckled as Deb and Tammye tried to get the kids to slow down and take turns. Lizzy Harris and Cristina Guerrero were also there and the four girls were very excited about just having completed week 6 of the Academy together. The two cousins were both going home the next day and wanted to spend all day Friday at the beach. 

“Are you up for that Grandma and Gigi?” Ali quirked an eyebrow at the two grandmothers and chuckled again.

“We are” Deb flashed a big smile back. “Your dad will be here any minute to take Dodge to his last day of soccer camp, then the rest of us are gonna hit the sand” she laughed and exchanged a playful look with Tammye while Carol came into the shot with a plate of bacon for the table to say good morning.

“I can’t believe you’re not watching this game?!” Ali shook her head in surprise a couple of minutes later after the kids had gotten bored with the call and more interested in the bacon. “Rematch of last year’s World Cup Final?”

“Oh we’re watching it” Tammye turned the iPad towards the big tv in the family room. The game was on and all the kids were at least half-watching it as they ate. The volume was down though, Ali imagined so the grandmas could hear her over the phone. “Wouldn’t miss it. Ash says it’s probably going to be a better game than any of the medal games” Tammye shrugged. 

There was a pause and Ali was about to end the call so she too could focus on the game in front of her.

“How’s she doing?” Tammye’s worried voice was quieter and she moved into the kitchen for more privacy, not wanting to worry the kids.

“I think she’s ok” Ali lowered her voice too. “Stubborn as hell so she must be feeling a little better” she rolled her eyes and sighed.

“I told her to keep her butt in bed until the next game...” Tammye agreed, a stern look on her face. “But she wouldn’t listen.”

“Tell me about it” Ali sighed again but couldn’t keep the small smile off of her face. “She’s kinda right though, that’s what’s so annoying about it.”

Both women laughed softly.

“It could be the US’ last game if they don’t win” Tammye agreed. “But having her there in the stadium isn’t gonna make the difference, now is it?”

Ashlyn made it through the game, but just barely. She went into the green room and lay on the couch in there between segments, getting her make-up retouched before she went back on at halftime. Ali sat with her and at least two of the other analysts joined them too, rotating through so it wasn’t too noisy in there for the sicko. The US made it through the game as well and managed to pull off the victory this time. As had happened so often in the past with the US team, they were excellent at avenging painful losses. They knew how to let the pain and disappointment from losing the World Cup final the year before fuel them through this Olympic tournament. The quarterfinal game was almost as good as the World Cup final had been, but the US was slightly more dominant this time. There weren’t as many goals scored because the US defense had played together for the better part of the last year, and Lexi Burke, the goalkeeper who was now 30 years old, played lights out as she had been doing all tournament. Honey Dawkins, the young dynamic striker who had shone so brightly in London last summer, scored the game winner on an assist from Kayla Duran and Ashlyn couldn’t have scripted a better way for the victory to happen. Kayla Duran was Niki’s former high school student and Ashlyn’s favorite player on the team, although she did an excellent job of hiding it when she was working. Ashlyn had been trying to work out a deal or a trade to get Kayla to play for the Breakers in the NWSL but Minnesota wasn’t willing to give her up for anything.

The US took the thrilling energy from that quarterfinal victory and harnessed it as they went on to defeat Germany in the semifinal game on Tuesday August 3rd. In the other semifinal, Canada beat Australia for a ticket to the Gold medal game coming up Friday August 6th. Australia won the Bronze medal, defeating Germany in the first game in the afternoon. Then the US, again led by great defense and excellent goalkeeping, won the Gold medal, beating Canada who took home the silver. The Final had been another physical, emotional, brutal game between the two North American countries. There was no love lost between Canada and the US when it came to women’s soccer, or women’s hockey for that matter. Ashlyn had been right, of course. The best game of the tournament in terms of play style, technicality, and performance had been the US v England match and almost everybody was in agreement about it. But the other games still had to be played and won and the US did just that. After having their dreams crushed one year earlier and coming in second place at the World Cup, the USWNT won the Olympic Gold medal for the third time in the past four Olympics. After bombing out of the 2016 Rio Olympics without even getting the chance to compete for a medal, the US had attacked the Olympics with a vengeance. They beat Canada in Tokyo in 2020 for the Gold, then they went on to win the Gold again against Brazil in 2024 in Los Angeles. Nobody would forget that summer for a very long time. They tripped up a bit in 2028, settling for Bronze in France. But that only motivated them more for this year’s games.

Ali and Ashlyn, along with most of the rest of the broadcast team, flew back to the States the day after the Gold medal game. Ashlyn was finally feeling like herself again after struggling to regain her strength as she recovered from one of the worst cases of food poisoning anybody had ever seen. Of course, the keeper refused to take it easy through the last two games. Not only did she want to do her job and do it well, but she wanted to show her wife around the country she had spent the past 12 days in. Ashlyn had made a dinner reservation and arranged for a special birthday dessert at the restaurant for Ali for the first night she arrived, on her actual birthday July 28th. The keeper had never even gotten to cancel the plans because she didn’t wake up from her illness until Thursday morning. 

“Why does this restaurant keep calling you?” Ali asked her wife Thursday afternoon as they got the keeper settled into their hotel room after being released from the hospital. “It’s like, the third time they’ve called you today” the brunette had Ashlyn’s phone, helping her text and communicate with her producer and broadcast colleagues.

“Oh, uh...” Ashlyn winced as she realized what was happening. “We need to call them and explain what happened” she closed her eyes and fought off a wave of dizziness as she sank back into the pillows of the big, comfortable bed. “They’re probably gonna have to charge me for it too...”

“For what?” Ali sat on the edge of the bed and tucked her wife in, pushing some of her shaggy blonde hair away from her slightly sweaty face with a frown of worry. “You ok? You look...extra pale...”

“Yeah” Ashlyn nodded lightly. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was a grim line waiting for the nausea to pass. “Got dizzy for a minute.” She swallowed hard and exhaled. “Better get the trash can, just in case” she pointed vaguely towards the other side of the hotel room.

Ali was back with a cool washcloth and trash can in a couple of minutes, taking her seat again on the edge of the bed. She couldn’t help but admire her keeper, sick as she was. Ashlyn’s face was always beautiful with her high cheekbones and gorgeous features, but something about how thin she looked that afternoon made those features stand out even more. Ali had known for years that her wife was going to age beautifully. She felt like she was getting a sneak preview of what Ashlyn might look like when she was an old woman. She smiled, knowing she had been right about the blonde keeping her looks well into her advanced years.

“So, you wanna tell me what this restaurant is gonna ask me about?” she leaned forward and kissed Ashlyn’s forehead before sitting back up and placing the cool washcloth there instead.

“They’re probably gonna be mad that we blew off our dinner reservation last night. And, uh...oh probably charge us for the special mini-cake I had them make for you...”

“Oh honey” Ali cooed and grinned at how thoughtful and sweet her wife always was to her. “You are just the best wife in the whole world” she lifted her keeper’s hand to her lips and kissed it softly, holding it against her cheek as she gazed down at a drowsy, dizzy Ashlyn. “Thank you for doing all of that for me.”

“Well, I didn’t actually do any of it” Ashlyn chuckled and let her eyes flutter closed a few times as exhaustion started to take her. “I had the best intentions though...”

“I’ll call them now and figure it out” Ali tucked her keeper’s arm back under the covers and kissed her lips sweetly before getting up off the bed. “You just rest now and get yourself well. I love you.”

When Ali was finished talking with the restaurant and explaining what had happened and why they hadn’t been able to keep their reservation, she loved her sweet keeper even more. The restaurant manager remembered Ashlyn well and had been sympathetic but still required payment for the birthday cake which Ali understood and took care of. What she didn’t expect was the manager arranging to deliver ‘Ms. Krieger’s package’ back to the hotel. Ashlyn had arranged for the restaurant to hide something inside her wife’s birthday cake for her, as a surprise.

Late that night as Ali was getting into bed to go to sleep, Ashlyn was just coming out of a deep slumber. She didn’t know what time it was until she saw her wife in nighttime bed mode. As she turned to look at her nightstand and grab her glasses, she saw a small, greenish object next to the lamp and squinted for a few seconds. 

“What’s this?” Ashlyn’s raspy voice asked as she pushed her glasses onto her face and reached for the smooth stone object.

“You tell me?” Ali chuckled and rolled over towards her wife. “The restaurant sent it over. Said it was your surprise.”

Ashlyn groaned a little and then laughed softly as she sat up against the headboard, struggling with the pillows until the brunette helped her.

“Well, so much for that I guess” she sighed and smiled, grateful to have Ali so close to her. “Surprise baby, and happy birthday” she handed the small, intricately carved jade elephant to her beautiful brunette.

“I was hoping that was for me” Ali beamed, despite her jet lag and stress from the past 28 hour’s events. “They said something about the cake, but I wasn’t sure what they meant...”

“Yeah, I had them bake you a special chocolate cake, just the way you like it” she smiled at the brunette who was admiring the delicate sculpture in her hand. “And they put this inside it for you to find...”

“Like the kids’ cakes with the coins and the button...” Ali’s whole face lit up and her nose crinkled as she grinned back at her sweet keeper.

“Yep” Ashlyn nodded and smiled. “That was the plan anyway” she rolled her eyes. “Look at the bottom, on the belly...”

Ali turned the small carved elephant over, 3” long by about 2” high and perfectly shaped into an Indian elephant with the shorter ears, and peered at the rotund stomach.

“What does it say?” she tried again, dropping her chin and looking over the top of her glasses like an old lady. “I need to get my eyes checked. I can’t see a damned thing anymore...”

“Aw baby, you’re only 48. It’s not time for trifocals yet is it?” Ashlyn teased.

“Keep it up Harris” the brunette shot her a fierce glance over her glasses still. “I’ll take my elephant and go home without your diseased ass...”

“Ok, ok” Ashlyn laughed again. “I take it back, I take it back.”

“It’s...” Ali squinted again and started to giggle at her own foolishness. “Oh God, I don’t know” she shrugged, giving up with a laugh. “Is it coordinates?” she guessed, knowing how much Ashlyn had loved when she had given her the necklace with the coordinates of their big rock at the beach back in December.

“Oooh, good guess” the keeper giggled and pulled her wife into a hug, however weakly. “But no.”

“Tell me...” Ali begged, her voice cute and soft and pleading as she embraced her wife.

“It’s your initials and your birth date and the name of the city where I got it – Haikou” she paused, mostly to catch a breath and rest. 

The conversation and hug and laughter was the most activity she’d engaged in for over 24 hours, aside from getting into the hotel room from the hospital. She was tired and felt empty. But she could feel the love and care from her wife already counteracting the illness.

“You had it carved, while you were here?” Ali clarified, astonished. “You’ve barely been in one place for more than a couple of days at a time though...how?”

“There was this cool place in Haikou, the second group game, Australia” she nodded, knowing Ali would be able to follow the reference perfectly.

“The stadium on the island?”

“Yeah, that was cool too” the keeper smiled. “Anyway, there were a ton of shops. It’s an island but it’s still freaking Hong Kong” she laughed. “Well, this was closer to Macao, heading west along the water.”

“I know, I looked it up on the map with the kids” Ali nodded as she admired her gift.

“I was walking around with some of the gals, shopping, and Tierna and I ended up in this cool shop with this guy who looked like he was a hundred years old. He was the size of Drew and just as skinny and his beard went all the way down to his waist” Ashlyn’s eyes were big as she retold the story. “He did all the carving by hand and his daughter did the engraving on the finished pieces. I had Meg and Gwen go back and pick it up for me the next day, right before the game started.”

“Well I love it” Ali leaned up and kissed her wife’s lips gently. She could tell how spent she was. “Is it jade or some other beautiful faded green stone?”

“It’s jade” she replied and then asked quickly, “do you like it? It’s ok if you don’t...I know it’s kind of...” she struggled to find the word she was looking for but Ali didn’t give her a chance.

“I absolutely love it Ashlyn. It’s perfect. So whatever else you were gonna say there, just forget it. It’s beautiful and it’s personal and I’ll always think of you...” she grinned and giggled. “And our romantic time here together...” 

“Aw come on” Ashlyn whined and let her head drop back against the pillows with a dramatic sigh. “Give a girl a break would ya?” she giggled. “I promise you, this is not how our first two nights were supposed to go.”

“Oh I’m just teasing you babe. You know I don’t care what we do, as long as I’m with you I couldn’t care less” she leaned up again and kissed her keeper’s jaw and neck which were easy to get to in that position. She wasn’t trying to lead Ashlyn into anything physical at all. The blonde was about as sick and depleted as her wife had ever seen her. “I love taking care of you honey. Doesn’t matter where we are.”

“I promise I’ll get better fast” the keeper lifted her head back up and met her wife’s loving gaze. “And we can do all the things we talked about...”

“Just hush you” Ali kissed her gently and caressed her cheek. “I don’t want you to worry about that at all because I’m not. I love being here with you” she kissed her again and blinked up into her pale face. “And when you feel good again, whenever that is, we’ll do something on our list” she shrugged. “Or not. Doesn’t matter. I’ve got my birthday wish right here” she winked. “And my beautiful birthday present too.”

It took the whole first weekend for Ashlyn to get back to her normal routine after the big US v England game Friday night. She and Ali explored a little bit every day starting on Monday, and increased their activity more and more as Ashlyn’s strength returned. They weren’t travelling very far between games because the semifinals and medal games were all in the two stadiums in Guangzhou which was just North of the Pearl River DMG and the insanity that could be Macao, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen. They managed to get out into the countryside a bit, visiting a beautiful botanical garden, and a Buddhist shrine that felt like it was on another planet entirely. The quiet and tranquility they found there was in complete opposition to the tumult and dissonance they felt surrounded by everyplace else in the megalopolis. Within the frenetic city they spent time in museums and shops and were blown away by the kindness and politeness of the people who lived and worked there. 

Ashlyn and Ali spent a lot of time with the keeper’s colleagues as well. Heather O’Reilly and her husband Dave, and Sam Mewis and her husband Pat were dear friends of the Kriegers and it was wonderful sharing the Hong Kong experience with them. All of the broadcast team got along well and enjoyed their time together and the week went by very quickly. Somehow, all of a sudden, it was Friday August 6th and both medal matches were on the schedule for that day. It was Ali’s 10th day in Hong Kong and surrounding areas and she felt as though she had just stepped off the plane the night before. 

“I’m sorry this vacation wasn’t as good as our others” Ashlyn apologized Thursday afternoon as they started to get their things packed up and organized for the trip home. 

They had dinner plans that night with the rest of the group and they both knew the next day with two medal games was going to be chaotic. If they got some of the clean-up and packing done early, they could enjoy what little down time they might find on Friday. Ali stood at the foot of the bed packing the trinkets and gifts into her suitcase as best she could, while Ashlyn separated her clean clothes from her dirty clothes near the dresser so she could get started too.

“What do you mean?” Ali turned and gave her wife a frown, genuinely surprised to hear her say such a thing. “I love our vacation.”

“Yeah, but you’d say that anyway, just to make me feel like less of a jerk for being sick for most of it” Ashlyn dropped her head and it was hard to tell if she was sad or angry at herself.

“Babe, I can’t believe we’re still having this same conversation” the brunette rolled her eyes and threw a pair of rolled up socks at her wife, hitting her in the ear and startling her.

“Hey!” Ashlyn yelped and turned to face her giggling wife. “What was that for?” she couldn’t fight the grin that was growing on her face, despite the regret she felt about their trip.

“I told you the other day, I’m gonna start smacking you every time you say something like that” Ali shrugged, mischief dancing in her eyes. “I’m too lazy to go over there so the socks’ll have to do for now.”

“Oh really?” Ashlyn’s eyebrows went up as her smile grew. She picked up the socks, thankfully a clean pair, and threw them back hard at her wife – nailing Ali in the breast and wincing at her misfire.

“Ow!” the brunette’s eyes flared as she massaged the sting out of her soft flesh. “Watch it...” her words were hard but her face was still playful.

“Oh I’m watching it” Ashlyn closed the distance with a quick couple of steps and tackled the brunette onto the bed with Ali squealing the whole way. “I’m watching it real close...” the keeper teased as they wrestled on the bed.

They were both strong, but a fully healthy Ashlyn would always be just a bit stronger than Ali. It was a very even wrestling match that went on for almost 10 minutes until they were both laughing and panting too hard to continue. When the dust settled, Ashlyn was straddling her wife’s hips with Ali’s arms pinned one each side of her brunette head. Their faces were pink from exertion and their eyes met and held a loving gaze, even while Ali tried to squirm her way out of the pin.

“Look at you, up there on top” Ali teased and flirted effortlessly, still trying to get some kind of upper hand on the keeper. “Like you’re ready to do some of the work for a change” she smirked and lifted her hips up into Ashlyn with a devilish look in her eye.

“What? Come on” the keeper groaned and shook her head in whiny disagreement. “I was weak! I didn’t have any strength!” she defended herself while Ali giggled underneath her, pleased that she had gotten the desired reaction.

“Uh huh, riiiight” the brunette teased with a hearty laugh and another buck of her hips. “Just because your doctor says it’s true...” she played on, hoping she was being obvious enough so Ashlyn wouldn’t actually get defensive about it.

Ali knew that part of the reason her wife didn’t think this vacation was up to snuff compared to some of their others was because they hadn’t had as much sex as they usually did, especially on a vacation with no children involved. There had been nothing sexual between them until Ashlyn was feeling better on Monday and it was already Thursday afternoon. They had only had sex twice that week, so far, in addition to the time the first weekend when Ashlyn watched her gorgeous wife masturbate for her. Ali had been more than ready for the release after 12 days apart from her sexy keeper and then 4 more days of giving her massages and taking care of her. The absence and distance had already had the brunette on edge, but then touching Ashlyn so much without any sexual contact had been sheer torture for her. But she hadn’t complained. How could she? Her poor wife was sick as a dog and unable to do much about their situation. When they did have sex, Ali made sure she did most of the work. She couldn’t resist her wife but she didn’t want to cause Ashlyn to have a setback either. Just that morning she had woken her keeper up in the most delicious way possible – with her tongue between her long legs. They had planned for some sexcapades the night before but stayed out too late and Ashlyn couldn’t keep her eyes open back at the hotel.

“Really?” Ashlyn recognized the want in her wife’s eyes that afternoon on the bed and felt it echoing in her own body. “We go from practically no sex to twice in less than 12 hours?” her eyebrows were up high and so was her voice as she got more excited. “What’s gotten into you Mrs. Krieger?” she flashed her wife a sultry smirk.

“Nothing...yet” Ali purred, licking her lips and doing her best to drive her woman wild from her restrained position. “But I’m hoping...” she turned her head towards where her wrist was pinned to the bed and wiggled her arm so Ashlyn adjusted her grip.

“What about getting a head start on the packing?” Ashlyn asked innocently enough, trying to be sure they had time to do what they both so obviously wanted to do.

“Oh fuck it” Ali laughed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever bitch thought that was a good idea is an idiot.”

Ashlyn grinned and chuckled. She loved this Ali a lot. This wild, carefree, spontaneous brunette was always a good time.

“I don’t know” the keeper tried to frown and seem concerned but wasn’t sure if she could pull it off. “I’m pretty tired...”

“Oh no” Ali laughed her short, loud, shout of a laugh as her face broke into the nose-crinkling grin that told her wife she was having the absolute most fun possible. “No way All-star” she shook her head emphatically but still grinned like a fool. “It’s your turn to do the work. I’ll be the pillow princess this time...”

“Oooh, low blow” Ashlyn laughed and let one of her hands find her wife’s side to tickle it mercilessly. “Now you’ll have to pay for that one...”

The room filled with whoops and giggles and squeals as the tickling took over. Ali was about to lose what little was left of her patience when Ashlyn suddenly dropped her body down on top of her and crashed their lips together in a deep, passionate kiss. There was no more tickling after that, or packing either, only moans and gasps of desire and pleasure and love.


	11. End of Summer 2032

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! I'm excited because I'm going to Orlando for the game against Utah this weekend!!!  
> Making my annual pilgrimage. lol Gotta see Ali play live and in person at least once this year.   
> So if anybody's going to the game this Saturday night and wants to say hi or let me buy you a drink, hit me up. My email address is ljol2@hotmail.com   
> I met some of you last year, who are now friends - which is awesome, and I'm meeting a couple more this weekend too. So don't be shy.   
> I've been posting 3 chapters a week so far: M, W, and F and that's working well for me. I'll post two more for you Wednesday night because I won't be posting on Friday night.

Week 8 of the summer was the 8th and final week of The Academy, as usual. It had been a great summer up at the camp and the additional cabins that had been built that winter and spring had allowed about a 25% increase in number of girls who could attend the camps each week. The Academy was so well-known now that getting coaches was never a problem. In its 8th year, The Stacy Everett Lewis Academy was a well-oiled machine that continued to get rave reviews and positive feedback from everybody connected with it. Ashlyn and Ali brought their whole family up for week 8, leaving the very next day after returning from their Hong Kong vacation. It was the week that Niki brought the BC team, including Meg, up for part of their preseason work. As nice as it had been to get away from being a mom on duty for 10 days, Ali had missed her kids and was happy to have everybody together up at the camp for the week. Ashlyn was even more elated about it. She had been away for twice as long and missed her monkeys twice as much as the brunette did. 

For the first time, the 4 families did not rent out the huge house up on Lake Squam in NH for the following week. It felt every kind of wrong to not do it, but the number of people and kids with schedule conflicts seemed insurmountable that year. Instead, the 4 families made sure to be at the final week of The Academy. It wasn’t the same, not by a longshot, but it was still pretty great. Ryan and Whitney brought both kids up, which was a thrill for everybody. They left Becca up there with the Kriegers on Wednesday when they took Tommy to his special doctor and spent the night in Winchester that night. Dom took the week off and hung out with all the kids, making Sydney the happiest wife around. They were all busy. Busy parents with busy jobs and busy lives full of busy kids. 

Noah Cross, Niki and Molly’s oldest, was going to be a junior in high school next month. Evan was starting 7th grade and Penny 5th grade and none of it seemed possible. They were all in double-digit ages now with Penny turning 10 back in March and nobody could figure out how that happened. Cassius Dwyer was going to be a freshman in high school this year and Sydney was still in complete denial about it. She was usually so carefree about things, but something about her first baby being grown up enough to go to high school made her weep at the very thought. James was starting 5th grade and Maddox was headed off to 3rd grade. The Flanagans were still the youngest of the entire group and 7-1/2 year old Becca was going to start 2nd grade in September. Tommy, although he had missed a lot of nursery school from being sick, had still managed to stay in his age group. He was going to be a kindergartner and he proudly told anybody who would listen all about it. The Krieger brood was getting older too, just as quickly as everybody else. Drew was starting 8th grade, Josie was making the big jump to middle school as a 6th grader, and the twins were going into 4th grade.

But before the stress and excitement of the new school year descended on them all, there were still three weeks of summer vacation left. After playing around at the Academy they all went back home and finished their summer camps. It felt strange as hell to be in the big old house instead of up at the big lake house with the 4 families that week, but the Kriegers got through it. It turned out to be a pretty great week too. Ali had purposefully not scheduled anything for the kids and it was wonderful. They had always tried to keep the last week of summer, the week after the 4-family vacation, obligation free but over the last couple of years things had begun to creep into it. Dodge’s football camp had moved to that week, as had the sleep away drama camp that Josie loved. It was nice to have a full empty week for a change. Or so the moms thought.

“Aww, look at this one” Vicki Krieger cooed as she scrolled through the Sweet Paws website one afternoon early that free week.

Ashlyn had taken the kids up to Ken and Vicki’s to enjoy the pool because life at the beach was so rough. The big draw of the pool was the fact that Vicki waited on the kids hand and foot and Ashlyn and Ali refused to do that for them at the beach. Ali was at work for the first half of the week, having missed almost three weeks of it in Hong Kong and then at The Academy. The kids weren’t paying much attention as Vivi passed her tablet over to Ashlyn in the chaise lounge next to her by the pool. They were playing a pretty heated game of soccer water polo which was just soccer in a swimming pool with floating goals at each end. They were loud and raucous as they splashed and trash-talked each other. Currently, Team Drew and Lily was ahead of Team Josie and Dodge but only by one goal.

“Oh man, what a sweetheart” Ashlyn enthused as she got a look at the adorable little puppy on the screen. “Look at those eyes...I love when they have those old eyes, like they’ve been around a time or two already.”

“The ones that look right into your heart” Vicki agreed with a nod as she took the tablet back. “Oh my God” she gasped. “There’s another one...sisters!”

That was how it all began. That was how Frankie came to be the latest dog member of the young Krieger family and Sadie the newest puppy in the Ipswich Krieger family. The kids had heard Vicki’s excitement and wanted to know what was so cute. One thing led to another and before the hour was out, Vicki and Ashlyn had driven the four kids over to the Sweet Paws rescue facility in nearby Essex, MA. Just to take a look. It wasn’t clear which one of the women expected the other to be the one to talk them out of the next natural step in the order of things, but, needless to say, neither of them managed to do it. Two puppies later, back at Ken and Vicki’s house in Ipswich, Ashlyn’s phone dinged.

Aliebe: on my way home. Dinner?  
Ashlyn: you should meet us in Ipswich  
Ashlyn: we’re having dinner here  
Aliebe: I wish I’d known. Don’t have any clothes to change into.  
Ashlyn: You can wear some of mine. You know how good you look in my clothes...  
Aliebe: I know how good YOU think I look in your clothes...lol  
Aliebe: Ok. See you soon. I missed you today...

Ken was the first person who had to be convinced but Vicki knew it would be easy. The man loved dogs and they had already talked about how old and infirm Bandit was getting. He could barely walk now with his bad hips. They both knew they would need to put him down soon and it broke their hearts. Maybe having a new puppy in the house would lift old Bandit’s spirits and give him a new sense of purpose in his last days. As predicted, Ken caved like the marshmallow he was about dogs. It only took about half an hour and one somewhat heated conversation upstairs with his wife before he was laying on the living room floor with both puppies crawling all over him.

“Oh my God!” Ali squealed as she came into the house and saw the two puppies in the middle of people she loved, all over her father’s living room floor. “What is this?! Who are these little cuties?!” 

“Hey baby” Ashlyn met her with a quick kiss and handed her the bag of extra shorts and t-shirt she always brought when they visited the pool. “Go get changed so you don’t get puppy drool all over you” she pushed the brunette out of the room with a gentle tap on her butt. “I promise they’ll still be here when you’re done.”

It was hard to say who was more excited about the puppies that evening. Everyone loved them. The kids were all shockingly in agreement about something, for once. Even Logan and Bandit seemed to be enjoying the pups from their more aloof distance. Logan sat upright on her haunches and not even a jumping puppy could reach her head. She watched them curiously from up there but wagged her cropped tail the whole time. It wasn’t comfortable for Bandit to sit up like his cousin, so he lay on the floor with his head up as high as possible, dodging sharp puppy teeth when they got near. Ken stayed close to protect his old friend.

“Are you guys fostering them for Sweet Paws?” Ali asked as she walked back into the room, seeing the plastic bag full of she wasn’t sure what from her favorite dog rescue program and shelter in the North Shore area. 

“Um, not quite Princess” Ken replied from his now seated position on the floor next to Bandit. He looked from Ashlyn to Vicki and back, waiting for one of the guilty parties to speak up.

“We adopted them!” Dodge shouted out a few seconds later, physically unable to keep the exciting news inside another second.

“What?” Ali’s eyes went wide as she looked from grown-up to grown-up. “Are you kidding?”

It was hard to read her face, but Ashlyn was pretty sure she was mad. If she had to guess, the keeper would say she was mad because they hadn’t talked about it first, more so than she was mad about the puppy itself.

“It’s my fault” Vicki finally confessed. “I was looking at the website this afternoon by the pool and...”

“No” Ashlyn interrupted, her head down as she walked to her wife like a dog who knew she had done something wrong. “I’m the one who suggested we go look at them. I knew that was a mistake but I did it anyway...”

The clamor from the kids who all began to tell their own version of the same story was too much for the brunette to take and she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Ashlyn remained standing in front of her, waiting for the verdict and the decision and knowing that if Ali said no that she would have nobody but her own self to blame for the difficult situation. Just as Ali was about to open her eyes again and ask some more questions, little Frankie trotted over and began licking the side of her foot.

“Hey” she looked down, startled.

There was an adorable little ball of black fur, soft as silk, and only about a foot long and 10” high with the pinkest little tongue Ali had ever seen. Frankie looked up at her and barked once, her whole tiny body vibrating in response.

Everybody held their breath...until they heard the brunette giggle. 

“Who is this little nugget anyway?” she asked with a chuckle over her wife’s shoulder, giving Ashlyn the ‘we’ll talk about this later’ face closely followed by the ‘you owe me big time’ face.

Ashlyn turned to share a relieved look with her co-conspirator and Vicki grinned back at her. The kids quickly began introducing their mom to the two puppies, telling her everything that both animals had done since they put them and their small crates into the Jeep three hours earlier. The dogs were mutts, but appeared to be a schnauzer-terrier-poodle mix. Their mom had been a rescue but had died giving birth, along with the other four puppies in her litter. Frankie and Sadie were the only survivors and had been living at Sweet Paws for almost 9 weeks. They had only been listed on the website for a couple of days. Frankie was black on her back and the top of her head and snout. She had a white chin, a thick white stripe down her chest, and two white paws – her front left and her back right. The rest of her was tan colored. She had a tan mask around her eyes, her belly was tan, and her other two paws were tan. She had a cute little black nose and piercing black eyes. There were wisps of white hair scattered throughout the tan wherever it appeared on her body.

Sadie was a bit smaller, but not too much. She was a mixture of white and grey hair everywhere with just a touch of black at the edges of her ears. Her eyes and nose were black buttons, just like Frankie’s, and Sadie’s hair was shorter than her big sister’s. She looked like a little cream puff.

“Mama wouldn’t let us name her though” Lily complained, although she was so thrilled with the new puppies that she couldn’t even try to fake a frown. “Frankie is short for Frank...” she scrunched her face up, trying hard to get the story right.

“Frankfurt” Ali blinked at her wife, knowing what her keeper had wanted to name their dog since their Germany trip 7 years earlier. “It’s a city in Germany where I used to live...”

“Oh yeah, your tree is from there” Drew announced, putting the pieces together before the others had caught up. “That’s cool” he nodded and smiled at his moms.

“Yeah, it is” Ali agreed as she got on her knees so she could play with the pups up close. “What about Sadie?” she looked at her father and stepmother inquisitively.

“No real story” Vicki shrugged. “Just a name I always thought would be good for a dog.”

“I think it suits her” Ken nodded his approval as the small cream puff climbed up onto his lap again. “They both do.” 

Logan moved to Ali’s side protectively or maybe just to stake her claim. “And what do you think of your new sister Miss Logan?” the brunette reached over the dog’s broad shoulders and hugged her while picking Frankie up with her other hand. 

She sat back on her heels and pulled Frankie into her chest while Logan sniffed her carefully. Ali could feel the puppy’s heart racing, her whole tiny body vibrating as the imposing snout of her big sister invaded her space. Logan let out a big exhale that was almost a sneeze, scaring Frankie and making her bark. 

“That means she likes her!” Dodge interpreted for them all with a laugh.

“It does huh?” Ali chuckled as she let Frankie return the sniff to Logan. “Let’s hope so.”

“Eww...she’s peeing!” Josie yelled and pointed at her mom’s lap where the puppy’s urine was collecting.

“That’s great” the brunette sighed and closed her eyes while Ashlyn ran to get the roll of paper towels from the kitchen. “Juuuust great.”

But it was great, aside from the regular pitfalls of training a new puppy. Housetraining and regular training took time and required patience and lots of clean-up and care. But Frankie was adorable and smart and endlessly entertaining, when she was awake. Like all puppies, she zonked out hard every couple of hours to regain her energy. It was in those moments, in particular, that they all fully appreciated what a beautiful pup she was. Sometimes she was so tired that she simply went to sleep exactly where she was. But most times, when she could muster the energy to do so, Frankie went and found Logan and curled up as close to her as possible for her naptime. It was the sweetest freaking thing in the world.

Ali and Ashlyn had argued briefly about the new puppy late that first night, when they finally got home and got everybody to sleep, except for Frankie. Ashlyn did the arguing for her wife, beating her to her points because she knew exactly what she had done wrong.

“I know I fucked up. I’m sorry Al. Really, I am. I’d be mad if you did it to me too” she paced back and forth at the foot of their bed while Frankie watched her every move from inside the nearby crate. 

“I just...” Ali started, not really having much to say that her wife hadn’t already confessed to and apologized for.

“I know” Ashlyn shook her head and gave the brunette a sincere, heartfelt look. “We’re a team and I went rogue today and it’s disrespectful and not cool. I should have talked to you about it first. We could have gone back tomorrow and gotten them” she paused, “if they were still there...”

“Oh, enough” Ali chuckled from her place in the middle of the bed where she was folding clean laundry. “Thank you for saying all that, it’s all 100% right, by the way” she quirked her eyebrow at her anxious wife. “But let’s face it, we’re a two-dog family. We always have been. And there’s never gonna be a ‘good time’ to get a puppy. It’ll always be hard at first, no matter what” she shrugged. “So let’s just move on.”

“Move on as in you’re gonna help me with the puppy move on or...”

“Don’t push your luck, All-star” Ali tried not to smile but couldn’t help herself. “You just couldn’t let me have one quiet week huh?” she quirked her eyebrow again. “Just one quiet week...”

“I’ll make it up to you...” Ashlyn offered, trying to think of something she could do to get back in her wife’s good graces. “Here, let me finish this” she motioned to the laundry as Ali folded the last piece of it.

“All done babe” she laughed, amused by how hard her keeper was trying to make up for her blunder. “What else you got?” she asked ss she carefully piled the folded laundry into the laundry basket to be distributed among the kids’ rooms in the morning.

“Oooh, how about a massage?” Ashlyn suggested hopefully, her whole face lighting up. “Or a bath? I can run you a bath...”

“I’ll take the massage” Ali cut her off and lay on her stomach on the bed. She pointed at her shoulders and winked up at her wife. “Let’s go.”

Ashlyn hadn’t been rubbing her wife’s tense shoulders for more than a minute before Frankie started whining. They had only known her 7 hours but they both recognized the puppy’s ‘I need to pee’ whine.

“Ugh” Ali groaned.

“Unbelievable” Ashlyn muttered under her breath as she quickly climbed off the bed towards the crate. “You’re not helping me here Frank. I gotta tell ya.”

//

The last two weeks of summer turned out to be pretty nice, for all of them. They went to a couple of Meg’s preseason games. They went to the beach. They went shopping for back to school clothes and backpacks and things that were necessary for academic success. They all worked together to train Frankie and get her started on the road to being officially housebroken. They played video games together and board games when it rained, and then went outside and played basketball and soccer in the yard and the driveway. They went for a couple of hikes and visited all three grandparents’ houses in different groupings. They checked out Meg’s new dorm room and gave her all sorts of ideas about how to spruce up the decorating there. Dodge went to football camp and Josie to drama camp. Lily played with Frankie so much that Ashlyn worried she might be getting fixated on the cute little pup. Drew tried to pretend that his heart hadn’t exploded with the addition of the puppy, but they all knew better. One of the cutest things either mom had ever seen was Drew and Lily taking Frankie for a walk through the neighborhood. Ali had to remind her son to make sure he came back home with both his sister and the puppy – the two of them too excited and pleased with each other to be counted on for much those days.

Some of the most fun was had in the evenings, right after dinner. The Krieger kids were talented in many ways, but far from perfect. The three youngest still enjoyed putting on shows for their moms, and anybody else they could rope into being an audience member. The kids would spend the whole afternoon, sometimes even the entire day, practicing and orchestrating some kind of show for Ali and Ashlyn to enjoy after dinner. Sometimes it was a song and dance routine. Sometimes it was a skit that they had made up and acted out. Sometimes it was more of a talent show where they dazzled their parents with some kind of incredible feat. You always knew who had been the ringleader by what the performance actually showcased. 

“Ok, we’re ready!” Josie yelled into the house through the screen of the open kitchen door.

“Be right there Jojo” Ashlyn called out from wherever she was, cleaning the kitchen or clearing the table or doing whatever household chore needed to be done.

Ten minutes later, after being urged into place twice more by the impatient little redhead, Ali and Ashlyn finally took their seats in the two rocking chairs on the porch off the kitchen. Originally, the porch had been the stage and the moms had watched from lawn chairs in the driveway. But it didn’t take long for the kids to require more room than the shallow little porch off the kitchen and so their positions reversed. Ali handed her wife a bottle of beer and they toasted to the upcoming show. One of them usually recorded it on their phone, but not always. Sometimes they just watched and enjoyed without worrying about documenting everything. Those end of summer evenings that were still quite warm, with the soft, magic hour light making everything look impossibly beautiful, were pretty special. No matter what kind of day either mom had endured, getting called to the porch to watch the latest kid show was guaranteed to put things back into perspective for them. Sometimes it ended up being a shitshow, with one kid crying and running off after having their feelings hurt by another kid. Sometimes an injury ended things abruptly, especially if Dodge had been the mastermind of that particular show. But most times it was an hour full of laughter and familial love. 

There were plenty of head-scratching moments too. The quality of the ‘shows’ wasn’t always great and sometimes Ali and Ashlyn just held their breath and prayed that nobody would get hurt as the spectacle unfolded before them. It was rare for them to put the kibosh on anything the kids had concocted, but they did have to put their foot down every once in a while. Like the time Dodge appeared in the small window above the driveway, in the loft of the garage. That was fine, until he opened the window and started to climb out of it. Both moms sprang into action. Ashlyn moving below the window to try and break his fall should the unthinkable happen, and Ali racing up the steps to the loft to make sure he got back inside safely. The moms enjoyed roller skating routines and skateboard tricks and every other kind of display of skill the kids could come up with using their toys and sports equipment. Drew occasionally joined them, especially for the sports stuff. But he had been the ringleader for one of Ashlyn’s favorite ‘shows’ ever – the musical parade. All the kids got their instruments and came up with some sort of decent sounding combination of notes to play, and then marched up and down the driveway, following Drew and his trumpet. Neil and Julie Donaldson often shouted out their compliments or clapped their applause from their open windows which was always a big hit with the kids.

The neighborhood continued to heal after its painful past with the awful Pitmans. The biggest step in the process was the arrival of new neighbors who would hopefully fill old Mrs. Ornstein’s house across the street with decency and friendship instead of the hate that had so recently resided there. The house wasn’t vacant nearly as long as it had been before the Pitmans moved into it. They were gone by the beginning of September last year and the new neighbors moved in on April 1st this year. Ashlyn thought it was a good sign.

“They’ve gotta have a sense of humor if they’re moving in on April Fool’s Day, right?”

Claudia and Dennis Irving, 29 and 32 respectively, moved into the house across the street with their two adorable little girls and their sweet golden retriever and, as far as anybody could tell, were a typical young couple just trying to figure out how to be parents and new homeowners. Emery turned 3 in April and Avery just turned 1 in June and they were joined by Honey – the 4-year old dog to complete the family unit. As usual, Julie and Neil Donaldson had all the intel on the new neighbors. It wasn’t because they were nosier than anybody else, it was because they were friendlier than most of the other neighbors on Beach Rd. Neil and Julie were the kind of people who went over and introduced themselves to the newcomers and brought a plate of brownies along to boot.

The busy Kriegers were always appreciative of the information their next-door neighbors, and good friends, garnered and shared.

“He commutes into Boston every day?” Ashlyn made an eek face as she sat at the small kitchen table in the big old house with Julie Donaldson across from her. “Yikes.”

“Mmm Hmmm” Julie nodded, taking a sip of the wine Ali had just placed in front of her. “Leaves at 6:30 every morning and gets home about the same time at night, if he’s lucky. Barely gets to see the girls before bed.”

“Commercial real estate is tough” Ali offered as she moved around the kitchen and pantry, putting chocolates and cookies on the table for them all to enjoy as they gossiped. “But that commute is the worst. I couldn’t do it” she shook her head.

It was almost 8pm, the second to last week of summer and the neighborly nurse had come over to meet the new puppy up close and personal. She had come over after dinner to enjoy the kids’ show in the driveway and not left yet. She found it difficult to pass up the offer of wine Ali frequently made. 

“But you do do it” Ashlyn chuckled.

“Not like that” Ali shook her head again, her eyes wide. “I have the luxury of being the boss so I can come in late and leave early so I’m not sitting in a parking lot for 2 hours on Rt 128, both ways. No thank you.”

“She’s home with the girls” Julie continued. “But she’s a speech therapist so she takes jobs when she wants to.”

“Like, for kids with cleft palates and stuff like that?” the keeper asked as she smiled appreciatively up at her wife who had just brought over her favorite cookies for her.

“Yes” Julie nodded. “Or kids that stutter” she gave them a knowing look, remembering Lily’s earlier struggles. “But she says she prefers working with older people. People who’ve had a stroke and need help learning how to use half of their mouth again.”

“Wow, that’s really great” Ali finally sat down, pulling up one of the extra chairs from near the fireplace. They didn’t get used for timeouts anymore. Now the kids were sent to their rooms, sans electronics or toys, to consider what they had done wrong. “And she’s only 29?”

“I guess she went to college, then went back and got her Masters right away, then married Dennis and worked for a couple of years, then had Emery” Julie shrugged. “Some people have a plan and stick to it” she chuckled. 

“Who helps them with the kids?” the keeper mumbled around a bite of cookie, covering her mouth with her hand after realizing her mistake. “Sorry.”

“Claudia’s mom lives out in Townsend...”

“About an hour Northwest of Boston” Ali qualified for her wife who was much better about all things New England but still didn’t know where every single town was located. “Up near the NH border.”

“And her sister lives in Cambridge I think” Julie frowned. “Or Boston, maybe JP? I forget. But they both come and help.”

“I’ve seen them I think” Ashlyn thought hard for a minute. “The sister drives the truck, right?”

“I have no idea” Julie laughed. “I’m not a car person. You’ll have to ask Neil when he gets home tomorrow.”

“Nah, it makes sense now. And I’ll bet she lives in JP” the keeper nodded with a little smile on her face.

“Oh, is she on our team?” Ali giggled, putting the truck and the JP references together with her wife’s smirk. “Good. The neighborhood could use a few more lesbians.”

“A few? I think she’s only got one sister” Julie frowned at the brunette.

“Yeah, but we always travel in pairs” Ali winked. “There’s another one, just you wait.”

It didn’t take more than a few days after Julie’s debriefing for the Kriegers to meet the Irvings properly. Ali and Ashlyn and Dodge walked across the street Saturday afternoon to introduce themselves. Both Ashlyn and Ali had waved hello to the newcomers over the past few months on their way into or out of the big old house. It was embarrassing that it had taken them this long to formally make introductions. They had left a welcome to the neighborhood card on a visit attempt back in May when no-one had answered the door. And the Irvings had returned the favor in June with the same result. Enough was enough and Ali had decided that they were going over the next time there were any signs of occupancy across the street.

“Hi, we’re sorry to drop in unannounced like this, but we just wanted to catch you while we’re home and you’re home...” Ali began, feeling nervous when the young mother answered the door looking like a total wreck.

Their new neighbor was taller than Ali but shorter than Ashlyn by about an inch. She had a medium build, not officially skinny but not really chubby either, with light brown eyes. She had long, straight blonde hair that had been pulled back into a ponytail but had so many loose ends falling out in every direction that it would be hard to say it was still working for her. She wore a loose, comfy-looking t-shirt and knee-length cut-off grey sweatpant shorts. Both articles of clothing had at least two new-looking stains on them and one of them smelled like vomit. She wore no make-up and was average-looking but beautiful in that 29-year old way. She was barefoot and not wearing a bra, which became obvious when the 1-year old on her hip pulled her t-shirt tightly against her medium-sized breasts for a few seconds before changing her grip again. The girl was just as blonde as her mother but her hair was shorter, falling just above her shoulders.

“Oh God” Claudia’s face fell for a second but then jumped up into a weary smile as she stood there with the door open wide. “I’m glad you did” she laughed lightly and stepped back. “You’re welcome to come in, if you dare. My husband isn’t home and little miss Avery here is teething...” she sighed and shrugged at the fussy baby. “We’re a complete mess right now. Sorry.”

“We don’t want to bother you” Ashlyn gave her an understanding smile as 3-year old Emery came stomping into view behind her momma. She had dark curly hair that was a couple of inches longer than her sister’s. Emery was on the verge of tears because she couldn’t get the straw into the juice pouch she was holding. “Do you need help with that sweetheart?” the keeper asked the little girl without a second thought, bending over to get closer to her level.

9-year old Dodge had been standing in front of his moms during the whole exchange just taking everything in. He was by far their least-shy child but he did sometimes like to suss things out a bit before launching into action. For example, none of the other kids wanted to come with them to meet the new neighbors. Just Dodge. He took one look at Emery and her conundrum and stepped forward. 

“Here” he said as he grabbed the juice pouch and the straw from her little hands. He expertly punched the sharper end of the straw through the plastic and into the juice, releasing the pressure on the pouch before any of the juice came squirting out of the straw. “There you go” he nodded, very seriously as if it was important business he had just conducted, and handed the juice back to his new neighbor.

“Say thank you Em” Claudia encouraged.

“’ank oo” she mumbled around the straw as she stared up at Dodge.

“What’s your name, kind sir?” Claudia asked the boy playfully as she turned her attention back to a squirmy Avery in her arms.

“Dodge” he grinned, looking from Emery up to her mother and then up to his two moms.

“Oh, sorry, you’d think we lived under a rock or something” Ali chuckled and blushed. “I’m Ali, this is my wife Ashlyn, and our son Dodge. There are three more across the street” she nodded over her shoulder. “And one at college in Boston.”

“Wow” Claudia’s eyebrows went up. “You won’t care what a mess we are then” she chuckled. “Will you?”

“Trust me, we’ve been there” Ashlyn rolled her eyes and grinned. “But seriously, if now’s not good we don’t have to stay.”

After a few more minutes of discussion, and an exciting introduction to Honey the golden retriever, it was decided that the Irvings would come over to the big old house for an impromptu, casual dinner that night. Ashlyn assured Claudia that they were just going to grill out in the backyard and not go to any fuss. She even joked that clothing was optional for the kids and that seemed to seal the deal.

For one of the rare Saturday nights during any summer, there were no Krieger or Harris grandparents present. Tammye and Carol were having dinner at one of their own neighbor’s house in Rockport and getting better acquainted. Ken and Vicki were babysitting for Koty and Brianna. And Deb and Mike had gone down to Miami for a golf tournament that he still participated in. Ethan Machado was there, catching up with Drew after being out of touch during his vacation back to Chicago with Sam and Lisa. Julie and Neil Donaldson also joined the laid-back fun.

Honey joined Logan in the backyard with the kids who were alternately playing a soccer game and shooting each other with squirt guns, sometimes doing both at the same time. Puppy Frankie was watching the ruckus from the driveway where the grown-ups had gathered to talk and enjoy a beer together. It didn’t take long for Ali to get her hands on little Avery, the brunette’s face lighting up as she held and played with the 14-month old. Ashlyn and Neil handled the grilling with Julie moving easily from the kitchen to the driveway with whatever the cooks needed but didn’t have. Emery stood outside the black chainlink fence watching the bigger kids playing. She instinctively knew she was too little to participate. She had been relegated to the observation area, just like little puppy Frankie. Claudia Irving seemed uncomfortable but, after a little coaxing, finally shared that she was embarrassed that her husband hadn’t joined them yet.

“I can’t imagine what’s keeping him” she looked anxiously at the time on her phone again. “He had to work this afternoon, but thought he’d be home for dinner...”

“Relax” Ali smiled. “He knows where to find us. And we’ll know when he gets home” she shrugged. “Oh” she paused and turned her head to look down the long driveway towards the street where they all heard a vehicle approaching. “I’ll bet that’s him right now.”

But it wasn’t Dennis. Meg Doucette and her bestie-roomie-teammie, Gwen, hopped out of her jeep, parked on the street, and hustled up the driveway.

“Where is she?” the tall redhead asked excitedly.

“Um, you’re gonna have to be more specific kiddo” Ashlyn laughed. “There’s like a 3 to 1 ratio of females to males here tonight...”

“Every night, really” Julie laughed.

“True, true” the keeper nodded and chuckled.

“The puppy!” Meg replied loudly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Ah, she’s right over here” Ali tilted her head back to try and get a look at the fast-moving young woman on a mission to meet the newest family member. 

“Um, hello?” Ashlyn stood with her arms out and her palms up, waiting for a greeting.

“Ugh, sorry” Meg gave her stepmother a quick hug on her way by. “Hi. That smells awesome.”

“Good to see you too” the keeper chuckled. “I didn’t know you were coming up?” she asked more than stated.

“Passing up big Saturday night plans to visit the fam huh?” Ali grinned as Meg bent over the chair to give her a hug. “Hi honey.”

“We’re going out later” the redhead replied as she finally got her eyes on the adorable new puppy she had heard about for four days but not yet met. “It’s still early. Today was recovery after the game last night...” she rambled on before sucking in a breath as she picked up Frankie and held her in her arms. “Oh my God” she squealed. “Never mind, I’m never leaving again.”

Ashlyn made the introductions between the two college students and Claudia Irving and then Meg and Gwen took Frankie and Emery into the backyard. Meg carried the little girl on her back and promised to keep her safe from everybody else while Gwen ran similar interference for Frankie with the two big dogs. It still filled both Ali and Ashlyn’s hearts to the brim when the other kids greeted Meg with such honest excitement. They all converged on her in the backyard and hugged her hello before spending 10 minutes talking about Frankie and showing her the neighbor dog Honey and completely monopolizing her attention.

“Wow, so college junior all the way down to 4th grader?” Claudia raised her eyebrows in admiration. 

“Yep, Meg’s 20 and the twins are 9” Ali nodded, still totally hogging the baby. “Jules and Neil have three kids too. Justin’s 25, Emma’s 21, and Micky’s 18.”

“I would never have guessed you guys have kids in their 20s” Claudia admitted. “None of you seem nearly old enough for that.”

“See, she didn’t say ‘looked’” Ashlyn joked, “she said ‘seemed’. We all look ancient to her, I’m sure.”

Everybody laughed and Claudia tried to backtrack, afraid she had offended her hosts. The look of terror on her face caused Julie to come to her aid.

“Everybody looks ancient when you’re still in your 20’s” the nurse chuckled. “It’s ok Claudia.”

“No, God” the young woman shook her head, embarrassed. “I mean it, you all look and seem too young to have kids only a few years younger than I am.”

“You’re very kind” Ali smiled. “Just enjoy it while you’re in it. Before you know it you’ll be in our shoes, wondering how the hell the time went so fast.”

They made more idle conversation and Avery had her diaper changed and her bottle prepared as the burgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, and baked potatoes got closer to being finished on the grill. Ali graciously resisted the urge to take the baby again, standing next to her wife and pretending to assess the grill situation.

“Ok, she won’t ask because she’s too polite and kinda shy” Ashlyn grinned at her beautiful brunette, who tried to shush her to no avail. “But Ali would love to feed her, if you’re ok with that, of course.”

“She is being very polite, isn’t she?” Julie laughed and watched Ali turn pink.

“Of course you can feed her” Claudia smiled warmly at the brunette who took her seat again. “I do it all the time. I love her to death, but anybody can jump in, anytime” she laughed as she put her youngest daughter back in Ali’s arms. “Here you go” she handed her the bottle and then stood closer to the fence to make sure Emery was doing ok.

“Ok kids, 10 minutes to dinner. Get to a good stopping point and then go wash up” Ashlyn announced loudly to the group in the backyard.

“She’s really good with kids” Claudia watched Meg with Emery still on her back. “I guess she’s had a lot of practice though.”

“You can say that again” Ashlyn replied with a smile. “Now things are a lot different than when she was the twins’ age and had little Emery and Avery aged rugrats to deal with. She used to get so mad when Josie would get into her things. I felt bad for her but we had told her a million times to put her stuff away if she didn’t want the little kids to get into it.”

“She finally learned” Ali added, never taking her eyes off of the gurgling baby in her arms. “But it was tough until she did.”

“So who’s got the red hair in their family?” Claudia looked from the blonde to the brunette with curiosity.

“Neither of us, actually” Ashlyn looked towards her wife to see if Ali wanted to handle the question, but all she could see was the back of her head.

“Oh no, I wasn’t thinking” Claudia apologized quickly. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to pry...” she paused and took a deep breath. “My sister’s gay and I’m usually a lot better at this...” she laughed nervously. “I’m sure there’s another contributing factor and that’s where the red hair came from” she tried to ease her way out of it. “Got it.”

Julie Donaldson gave her a sympathetic look and tried to reassure her with a wink.

“It’s ok. Really. We get asked all the time” Ali looked over at their new neighbor and smiled kindly. “No offense taken.”

“Oh thank God” Claudia let a big breath out and closed her eyes in relief. “I really like you guys and the last thing I want to do is offend you or make you uncomfortable.”

“We like you too” Ashlyn said through a haze of smoke from the grill as she and Neil put the food on a big platter. “And it takes a lot to make us uncomfortable.”

Dennis Irving showed up halfway through dinner, all the kids sitting around the picnic table in the backyard near the rear kitchen window. Meg and Gwen stood between the picnic table and the gate by the driveway, not really wanting to sit with the kids or the grown-ups who were all sitting in beach chairs in the driveway or the rocking chairs on the kitchen porch. Emery stood in front of her mother who helped her eat her hotdog and small ear of corn, while Julie got her turn with little Avery. Both girls were fascinated by the bigger kids in the backyard and Emery didn’t take her eyes off of them, afraid she might miss something truly remarkable if she did. Ashlyn held onto Frankie with one hand next to her chair and had told Drew and Ethan to make sure Logan and Honey didn’t get anybody else’s food at the picnic table. So far, so good.

“Hello?” a friendly voice called out from the bottom of the driveway and, as soon as Dennis’ head came into view, Emery ran towards him with glee all over her ketchup-y face.

“Daddy!!!”

Everybody smiled because there wasn’t much cuter than seeing the jubilation on a child’s face when their mom or dad came home. It was the best. 

“Hi Princess!!” he beamed as he scooped up his daughter and spun her around. “I missed you today” he gave her a sloppy, loud kiss on her cheek and made her giggle.

“Careful hon” Claudia cautioned him. “She’s in the middle of eating...” she stood up and took Avery from Julie to go greet him.

“Uh oh, don’t want any upset tummies, do we?” he made a silly face and put her carefully back on her feet.

Ali now understood the vomit from Claudia’s shirt earlier that afternoon. Emery was a puker, under certain circumstances. It was pretty common with kids but never pleasant.

“And here is my other princess” he leaned in and gave Avery a big kiss, just like her big sister’s, before finally pecking his wife on the lips and patting her lower back affectionately. “And my queen...”

Ashlyn and Ali exchanged a look of approval.

“How come you don’t say that to me anymore when you come home?” Julie teased her husband and made everybody laugh.

After taking his suit jacket off and removing his tie, Dennis looked a lot more comfortable. Ali got up and made introductions and helped him get some food, even giving him her seat next to Claudia. Dennis was about 6’2” tall and chunky around the middle, still wearing the rest of his dark grey business suit from work. He had dark hair cut very short around his handsome, gracefully-featured face, and sparkling blue eyes. He looked like the kind of guy who had been the cutest boy in high school and maybe even college without having to try very hard. In the 11 years since college he hadn’t tried very hard either, because he didn’t really know how to. He had a nice smile and friendly eyes and both Ashlyn and Ali would talk later about how relieved they were that he didn’t seem at all like shitty Andy Pitman.

The Krieger kids moved into the front living room and basement after dinner and the grown-ups migrated into the kitchen, ostensibly to help with clean-up. Conversation continued and everybody found both Dennis and Claudia to be nice and easy to talk to. They were both friendly and outgoing but not life of the party types. Even Honey, their dog, was well-mannered and polite. It became clear that the Irvings would fit nicely into the neighborhood. Ashlyn had the same good feeling about them as she had had about the Donaldsons when she had first met them all those years ago. 

“I like them. A lot” the keeper said as she climbed into bed with her wife later that night. “I can’t imagine having two kids, 3 and under, when I was 29 though” she giggled. “Yikes.”

“I was nervous about him. When he wasn’t there, working on a Saturday, then being so late for dinner...”

“Yeah, I already didn’t like him and I’d never even met him” Ashlyn agreed.

“But he’s really nice, right?” Ali turned off the light on her nightstand and took her glasses off. “I mean, I’d probably love anybody who was half-decent after that last asshole” she said the word they still used for awful Andy Pitman. “But he’s really nice.”

“I knew I could work with him as soon as he called her his queen” Ashlyn smiled and then grinned wider when Ali draped herself across her chest and gave her a slow kiss. “And their dog is great too...” she continued after the tantalizing kiss, receiving a swat from her wife as anticipated.

“I kiss you like that and you start talking about dogs?” she quirked her eyebrow sharply at the blonde beneath her. “Good night” she shook her head and tried to roll off of her keeper, but Ashlyn wouldn’t let her go.

“I’m just teasing, come on” she giggled and pulled Ali back into place on her chest. “Kiss me again, my queen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oy vey that last game vs Houston was a shitshow. I'm selfishly very bummed because now I can't watch Marta play, or Julie King (who I love from my Breaker days). Last year when I was in Orlando Houston kicked our ass too. A lot of my favorite players are on that team and they're my second favorite team in the league but damn I hate them a lot right now.


	12. Soccer Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of two chapters tonight. The next one will make up for Friday night when I won't be able to post BECAUSE I'LL BE ON VACATION IN ORLANDO!!!!!

School started the Tuesday after Labor Day and September was upon them without mercy. The simmering disagreement between Ashlyn and Hannah about Meg living in her mother’s new Boston condo her junior year had been much ado about nothing. As planned, Ashlyn and Hannah had discussed the issue again before the Olympic trip to Hong Kong. The blonde felt very strongly that it was a bad idea for Meg to leave the dorms. The redhead thought it made perfect sense for Meg to have someplace homier to live in if it was available. Hannah was buying the condo regardless, so why not save the money on the dorm and let Meg live in the condo too? But it wasn’t about the money and Hannah knew it. She was just using that argument because she knew it would be effective on the blonde, which it was. They agreed that the two of them would sit down with Meg and talk about it together. Each woman would present their side of it and then they would let Meg decide what she wanted to do. They promised each other that they would honor Meg’s wishes, regardless of whose side she chose.

“Listen, before we get into this whole thing about the condo and the dorm” Meg had begun the Facetime conversation that summer, all three women in separate places. “I think it’s great that you’re getting a place up here mom, I really do” she smiled brightly. “You’re here a lot and I’m sure you’re getting sick of staying in hotels so much...”

“What’s up Meg?” Hannah couldn’t bear the suspense.

“Well, it’s just that...ummm...”

“Just tell us” Ashlyn spoke evenly as she tried to hide how aggravated she was by the whole concept. “We can take it.”

Meg took a big breath and sighed heavily as she started to explain. “I don’t wanna leave the dorm. I really appreciate the offer and everything” she added quickly to try and avoid hurting her mother’s feelings. “But the dorm is just so much easier. It’s closer to everything – my classes and the practice facility and the dining commons, and everybody’s there. I have a parking spot for my Jeep already and Gwen and I are finally juniors so we can move up to one of the corner rooms...”

“Ok, ok” Hannah sighed. “You don’t have to convince me honey. I just thought it would be nice for you. But if you’re happier there in the dorm then that’s where you should stay” she smiled sincerely at her daughter. “I just want you to be happy.”

“I am happy mom. I swear” she smiled sheepishly into her iPad. “Are you?”

“Me? Of course I am” Hannah got choked up. “My baby girl is the starting goalkeeper for the Boston College Eagles who are gonna kick ass all over the ACC this season” she squeaked out emotionally, making both Ashlyn and Meg tear up too. “As long as you’re happy Meg, then I’m over the moon.”

Hannah did buy a condo in Boston and her friend and business partner Reenie helped her move in and make it feel like her own before Meg’s season started in mid-August. There was one home game, against Boston University, in August, one away game in NH, and then 2 road games all the way out in California the last weekend of the month. The coaches were trying to play tougher teams so they could be ready for the College Cup. They’d all had a taste of success and were hungry for much more. Playing perennial powerhouse Stanford in your third game of the season was no joke. BC got obliterated, but they had learned some important lessons. If they faced Stanford again, the Eagles would be ready. 

The September schedule was another story entirely. BC played 8 games with 6 of them at home. The first away game for the month was at Harvard, in Cambridge, MA, so they really only travelled to play NC State at the end of September. It was a great way to build up confidence early in the season. Meg was playing some of the best soccer of her college career and Ashlyn was so excited she had a hard time keeping herself under control. Niki admitted to her friend just how optimistic the coaching staff was too.

“We’re trying to keep everybody on an even keel, and it’s awful early to be even thinking about the Cup yet...” Niki’s cautious words belied the look of excitement on her face as she sat in the coffee shop across from Ashlyn.

It was the first week in September and the keeper had met her friend for coffee early one afternoon near the practice facility. They had tried to talk about other things but it wasn’t long before the conversation turned to the team and the confident vibe around it.

“But they totally have a shot at going far this year, don’t they?!” Ashlyn’s eyes danced at the idea. “Man, I knew it!” she grinned. “Meg’s so tough to get a read from but I can tell by the way they’re playing already.”

“We don’t want any of them getting cocky” Niki gave the keeper a warning look. “So you keep your big mouth shut, you hear me?”

“I won’t say anything, except to Ali, I promise.”

“Meg’s playing lights out right now Ash” the coach added, brimming with pride. “I mean, she has such good instincts. The more she trusts herself the better she’s going to be.”

“I keep telling her that. Just go with your gut. Do all the work, get your feet right, be smart, but then trust what you’re feeling inside.”

“That’s great advice” Niki smiled. “Why aren’t you coaching again?”

//

From one successful kid on a soccer pitch to another, Dodge continued to play with older boys and excel every single game. He was faster and stronger than everybody else and it was obvious to everyone who knew anything about soccer that he was going to be unstoppable once he grew a bit more. He chased after every loose ball and fought through tackle after tackle, winning almost every ball he went for. He had moves too. This 9-year old kid had moves that would beat almost anybody he took on. The ball simply loved being at his feet. Of course, part of what made him so much better than the other boys, even the boys 2 years older, was that he practiced more than they did. When he was at home there was always a ball at his feet, even in the house. His moms had restricted actual soccer balls to outside but they turned a blind eye to the occasional soccer ball that made its way into the basement. But it didn’t matter what kind of ball it was – squishy stress ball, whiffle ball, tennis ball, dog’s rubber ball, nerf basketball, Dodge dribbled it around the house with him wherever he went. When he practiced out in the backyard with the wallboard or goal his moms had set up for the kids, it never ever felt like practice. It was fun for him. And he kept at it for hours. Both Ashlyn and Ali liked emphasizing the basics, in everything their kids tried to master. They wholeheartedly believed that mastering the basics so they became second nature to you was the key to real success, and they preached it to their kids. 

One of the best investments they had ever made was in Yael Averbuch’s Techne program. They signed all five kids up, including Meg, and showed them how the app worked. It was always more fun kicking the soccer ball around with someone else, but there were a million drills and exercises you could do by yourself too. All of their kids had benefitted from the program and both moms knew that it wasn’t the program itself as much as it was the repetition and competition it promoted and engendered. Ken Krieger had been teaching his grandchildren the same concepts and techniques their whole lives and the Techne app wasn’t trying to reinvent the wheel in terms of training drills. But they were trying to get participants to commit to improving their skills on a measurable, quantifiable basis. It provided the structure many kids and adults needed to make a training program work for them. It pushed participants to get better every day and never be satisfied until they were the very best that they could be, not just the best one on their team or in their town or in their house. The only limit was the one you put on yourself.

All four younger Krieger kids were dedicated to soccer. It was the family sport and they all embraced it and were very good at it and genuinely enjoyed playing it. It was in their blood and none of them could imagine a world where there wasn’t a soccer game on tv or where the people in their lives weren’t talking passionately about soccer. Dodge had been given a special talent and was better at soccer than anybody really had a right to be. He was good at every sport he tried, but soccer was clearly his gift. It all looked so effortless for him too. His face got red from exertion just like everybody else’s, of course, and he was almost always scowling in concentration and focus when he played, but as soon as there was a break in the action his face lit up with joy just to be out there. 

Both his moms had talked with him about proper behavior and attitude in any game, but especially for him with soccer because he scored way more goals than everybody else. He was just as competitive as either of his mothers had ever been, which was really saying a lot. Just like everything else in life, soccer wasn’t always going to be fair. Refs were going to miss calls. Coaches were going to mess up line-ups. Teammates were going to make mistakes. There was nothing Dodge could do but accept those things and keep playing his game and doing his part to help his team win. All of the Krieger kids, including Meg, were good sports and hearty competitors, no matter what they were playing. Josie still hated to lose more than any of them but had gotten better about controlling herself when it did happen. She also didn’t cheat anymore. None of her siblings would play with her after a certain point, Meg being the most vocal about her disdain for cheating, so the younger redhead had to adjust her behavior. The good news was that Josie had been able to do it, to make the change and stick to it. 

The kids all knew not to talk back to their coaches or the refs or even the other players or parents and spectators watching the games. Those were some of the earliest and most basic rules Ashlyn and Ali had taught their children. Which is why what happened one Saturday morning in September shocked so many people – everyone but Dodge’s family.

“He’s really getting knocked around out there” Ashlyn spoke quietly to her wife, the two soccer moms sitting next to each other in beach chairs around the Krieger family blanket at the soccer fields in Gloucester. 

“I know” Ali said solemnly. “It’s worse this half too.”

It was a typical Saturday in September for the family. 4 soccer games on different pitches in the large, outdoor soccer grounds, all at different times – thank God. Sometimes two of the games overlapped and the moms had to miss one while supporting the other. Ali still coached Drew’s, Josie’s, and Lily’s teams and was very respected in the youth soccer world of Cape Ann. Both she and Ashlyn dedicated a lot of time coaching different sports for their kids in the community and all the kids and parents knew and appreciated them for it. It helped that they were good coaches too. Ali had stopped coaching Dodge a few years earlier when it was obvious that his soccer life was going to be different than everybody else’s. Of course, the coaching never really stopped when you were a parent, or a grandparent in Ken Krieger’s case. Just because you weren’t your child’s official coach at practices and games didn’t mean you stopped passing on all the wisdom and knowledge you had. It was just done unofficially, at home. Ali and Ashlyn and Ken and the rest of the extended, soccer-crazy Krieger family tried desperately to stay in their lanes at the kids’ games, no matter their role. It wasn’t always easy.

Dodge took a fair amount of abuse from the bigger boys he was playing against as well as some of the parents and spectators on both his team and the opposing team. Everybody was a critic. The parents of the opposing team thought Dodge was dirty because he was the most active, aggressive player on the pitch. It was always his fault when their own kid mistimed their tackle and ended up in a heap with Dodge. The parents of some of his own teammates didn’t like the way he hogged the ball all the time or scored so many of the goals. That was perhaps the most difficult for Dodge’s family to deal with. What was he supposed to do? Lie down and let somebody else try and do a fraction of what he was capable of? It was frustrating all the way around but it wasn’t Dodge’s fault. He was already playing up so the kids his own age could actually touch the ball every once in a while without him there. Ali and Ashlyn and Ken had all worked with Dodge to try and explain the complicated environment his dominance had created in their youth soccer world. 

“You know how hard it always is for you when Drew does things better or faster?” Ali had tried to explain a few years earlier when Dodge had first started playing up with older kids.

“Yeah” the then 5-year old boy nodded. “I hate it.”

“It’s frustrating, right? You get mad and try even harder and then get even more frustrated?”

“Ah-huh” he agreed, frowning even at the thought of what his Mommy was describing.

“Well these other kids that play with you, on your team...they get frustrated just like that, only they get frustrated because you’re better than they are. Do you understand?” she studied his adorable face, watching him try to work his brain around the concept.

“They’re mad at me?” he asked with a look of complete innocence on his face.

“Yep. Because they can’t keep up with you. Just like you can’t keep up with Drew.”

It had taken a lot of talking and reminding, but as Dodge got older he started to understand it more. He knew how those other kids felt because he had felt it himself. That knowledge allowed him to be more patient with all the crap he took from players and parents alike when he played soccer. He shouldn’t have had to deal with it, but that was life. If he wanted to play soccer he had to play up with older boys, and that meant he took a lot of extra hits and knocks on the pitch and some unkind and thoughtless barbs from spectators. That Saturday in September of 2032 was no different. 9-year old Dodge was playing U12 soccer with 10 and 11-year old boys and he was still the best player on the field. Some of those boys and their parents didn’t like it. In today’s game the high school aged ref was letting a lot of things go and the game was starting to get out of hand. Dodge had been flat out pushed to the ground twice already in the second half and they were only in the 62nd minute.

“Come on ref!!” Deb Christopher yelled loudly from her spot on the edge of the blanket. “Where’s your whistle?!”

The whole Krieger group felt the same way but it had been Grandma who had cracked first. The many parents who knew the Kriegers and were more understanding of their unique predicament when it came to Dodge playing soccer, murmured their agreement and gave supportive looks to the family. The Krieger clan was doing their best to hold it together while one of their own took a beating just trying to play the game he loved. 

“He’s getting mad” Ashlyn spoke again to her wife, both women stoically watching the game deteriorate rapidly. They knew that nothing good could come from them making a scene. “This isn’t gonna end well...” the keeper exhaled anxiously, her whole body tense.

“What’s the coach waiting for?” Ali’s words were clipped but still quiet. “Take him out and let things settle down before somebody gets hurt. Then put him back in again.”

Just as Ali finished talking there was a hard tackle near the top of the other team’s box. Dodge had the ball and he and two of the opposing team players went down in a tangle of limbs and exclamations. It was hard to see exactly what happened but it looked like the two players sandwiched Dodge right as he was about to shoot the ball. He managed to get the shot off before yelling loudly in pain as his supporting leg got kicked by two separate cleats. By anyone’s definition of the rules it should have been a foul on either or both of the opposing players. Many would have awarded Dodge a penalty kick because of where the fouls occurred. Some would have given one or both of the other players a yellow card because neither of them had come close to getting the ball. But this ref, a volunteer high school player as most of the other refs were, didn’t see any of that. He waited for the shot to zip past the goal post and go out of bounds before blowing his whistle and awarding a goal kick to the other team. 

The parents and spectators of Dodge’s team exploded, yelling in outrage at the missed call. Dodge’s coach looked like his angry red head was going to pop right off of his wildly gesticulating body as he ran up and down the sideline screaming. The Kriegers watched Dodge slowly pick himself up and wince as he put weight on his left leg. He wasn’t upset but that was only because he thought the whistle had been for a penalty kick. He thought the ref had done the right thing. Only when he stood up a minute later after adjusting his sock over his bloody calf, did he realize that the goalkeeper was getting ready for the goal kick. Dodge went ballistic.

“Ref! Ref!!” he yelled as he ran towards the center of the pitch where the 17-year old ref was ready for the game to start again. “Are you blind?! How could you not make that call?!” Dodge’s face was bright red and he looked a lot like his coach did on the sidelines as he pleaded his case and yelled at the official. “That’s a pk!! That’s a pk!! You’ve gotta be kidding me!!”

The ref put his hand up to stop Dodge from coming any closer and to let him know that he had heard enough. Normally Dodge would have pulled back, no matter how bad the call was. He knew there was no winning those arguments and complaining about them only made the rest of the game worse. He had lots of experience to fall back on to prove that point. But that day, after all of the extra kicks and shoves and lord knows what kind of trash talk he had endured for 62+ minutes, Dodge was struggling to keep his temper in check. It was a tense few seconds and both his moms held their breath and willed him not to lose his cool. Just as it appeared the miracle of good sense had happened, one of the opposing players walked over to Dodge and shoved him hard in the back. Right in front of the ref who literally turned his head to look the other way.

“Quit whining you big baby” the other player taunted with the push. Dodge’s face scrunched up in fury as he tried to control himself. The other player then added another bit of snark when it was obvious the ref wasn’t going to do anything. He jeered at Dodge “Oh are you gonna go cry to your mommies now too?”

The Kriegers had played and coached enough sports over the past 9 years that everybody in Gloucester and most of the people in the other Cape Ann towns knew that Dodge and his siblings had two moms. The kids were teased about it now and then but there had never been another incident like the one that had taken place at Drew’s football game with the jackass grandfather in the stands. Neither Ali nor Ashlyn were naïve enough to think that kind of talk didn’t still take place, but it had never happened in front of them like that again. Individual teasing happened, usually when one of the Krieger kids started a new school and mingled with different kids who weren’t as familiar with their situation. For the most part, everybody in town knew about the Kriegers because they were more visible. Not only did the kids and parents all participate in many school and youth activities, but Ashlyn Harris was still a famous name in New England. There were other gay and lesbian parents in the Gloucester school system, but they weren’t as recognizable as Ashlyn and, by association, Ali were.

The taunt from Dodge’s opponent wasn’t the gay-bashing that it sounded like, and almost everybody knew it. The other player would have said the same thing to anybody else in Dodge’s position, except he would have said mommy singular. It was an odd sign of respect, in a twisted way, for the opponent to correctly acknowledge that Dodge had two mommies. Truth be told, Dodge was more upset about the crying part of the taunt than anything else. 

“Oh no...” Ashlyn gasped out at the same time Ali grabbed her hand and squeezed hard. Both women knew their son was about to lose his shit and neither could really blame him. The keeper spoke under her breath. “Don’t do it Dodger...” 

But all they could do was watch helplessly as Dodge turned and shoved the opposing player hard in the chest, knocking him backwards so he stumbled and landed on his butt. Dodge, almost a foot shorter, and smaller in every way than the other boy, took another two steps towards the bully on his butt. Every Krieger there knew he was about to launch himself on top of the boy in a full-scale body tackle because they recognized everything about his body language and posture and demeanor. They knew the ‘flying Dodger’ move intimately and had the bruises and scars to prove it. The ref miraculously found his whistle and ran to pull the younger boy away from the kid on the ground. Dodge struggled against the ref who was moving him towards the sideline. The assistant coach came out to try and get a hold of Dodge and, as soon as the ref had his own hands free again, the ref blew his whistle, pointed at Dodge and showed him a yellow card.

“Are you kidding me?!” Dodge’s face was twice as shocked that he had been given the yellow card as it had been after the non-penalty kick call. “You’re such an idiot!!” he yelled loudly at the ref as the assistant coach held onto him.

And with that, the ref reached into his pocket for the second yellow card that was quickly followed by the red card and pointed Dodge off the pitch. Dodge tried to run at the ref and the assistant coach picked him up in a bear hug from behind and walked him off the pitch and over towards the very edge of the playing fields. There was no locker room to go to because it was just one gigantic outdoor area with 12 different soccer pitches arranged like an enormous patchwork quilt. Dodge’s team was up 4-1 and would go on to win the game 4-3, but that wasn’t what mattered anymore to the Krieger clan. Josie had stopped what she had been doing, playing on her phone over at Kayla’s blanket, to watch her little brother get taken off the pitch. Drew had done the same, halting the pick-up game he was playing with his friends and teammates on one of the unused fields in the distance. Lily sat on the Krieger blanket, looking anxiously from one grown-up to the next, wondering what was going on but somehow knowing not to ask right in that moment.

“I’ll go” Ken said, looking at his daughter for the ok.

“No, I’ll do it” Ashlyn stood up, taking the water bottle and granola bar that her wife handed her with a sad, conflicted half-smile.

The fact of the matter was that neither mom wanted to go sit with their son at the far edge of the fields right at that moment. It was such a hard position for all of them to be in. On the one hand, they would never condone the behavior Dodge had displayed. Not ever, under any circumstances. And they would have to address that with him and punish him for it. But on the other hand, both Ali and Ashlyn were heartbroken for Dodge and all the bullshit he had to endure just to play the game he loved so much. They honestly wondered if it was worth it sometimes. He had put up with a ton of crap during that game, crap that he shouldn’t have had to deal with, and he finally snapped. Who among them wouldn’t have snapped too? So how the hell were they, as parents, supposed to reprimand their son for losing his temper, appreciate the fact that he had defended himself when it was obvious the ref wasn’t going to, thank him for keeping his cool for so long before that point, praise him for his soccer prowess and teamwork – he had two assists and two goals and was never half the ball-hog other parents accused him of being - tell him they know how shitty some people are sometimes and how sorry they are that he has to deal with it in the first place, and encourage him to do it all again next week? How the hell does that conversation go, exactly? 

Ashlyn nodded at the assistant coach as she finally approached the far edge of the playing fields, letting him know she had it from there.

“You played a good game Krieger” the coach patted his leg before getting up and heading back to the rest of the team and the final few minutes of the game. “Keep your head up.”

“He’s right you know” Ashlyn sighed as she sat next to her son on the grass, adjusting the brim of her hat so the sun wasn’t right in her eyes. 

There was an empty soccer pitch between them and the next group of people so nobody could hear them or even see more than their figures and movements. Ashlyn handed Dodge the water bottle and put the granola bar in his lap as he gulped his thirst away. She watched him for a minute, leftover streaks from the tears he must have shed on the walk over with the assistant coach still evident on his red face. His bottom lip stuck out in an angry pout when he finished drinking and Ashlyn was struck by how young he looked. The face she was studying was the face of 5-year old Dodge Christopher Krieger...the Dodge Krieger who had been more frustrated than anything else because he couldn’t do whatever his big brother and sister were doing. Then, with one eye-roll and heavy sigh, 9-year old Dodge was back.

“I got kicked out of the game Mama” he sounded sad and deflated. “That’s not a good game.” 

“No, not that part. But you did great the rest of the game. I loved that pass you made to Timmo at the very beginning of the game. That was beautiful.”

“And he didn’t mess it up” Dodge chuckled and then looked sheepishly up at his mother to see if he would be in trouble for it.

“No, he put it away. I can tell he practiced his shot this summer” she nodded. “And that last goal you scored” she shook her head and let out a low whistle. “That was a rocket. How did that feel coming off your foot? Did you know it was a goal as soon as you hit it?”

“Yeah, pretty much” he nodded and grinned, relieved that the tongue-lashing he was expecting might not be coming at all. “I kept my head down...”

“See what a difference it makes? I told you” she smiled and put her arm around the boy’s shoulders to give him a squeeze. She really wanted to give him a big hug but 9-year old boys didn’t always welcome that in public anymore.

“You and Mom and Grandpa and coach...you all keep telling me that” he rolled his eyes but this time in a self-deprecating way. “Did you see that one kid run away from it?” his eyes were wide at the memory of the closest defender scrambling to get out of the way.

“I did” Ashlyn giggled. “I don’t blame him. That was an absolute screamer of a shot. Smart kid.”

They sat quietly for another minute and Dodge ate the granola bar while his game came to an end. The Kriegers were going to be at the fields for another 2 hours because Josie’s game was starting in about 20 minutes.

“Aren’t you gonna yell at me?” Dodge’s small voice was full of curiosity more than anything else.

“No” Ashlyn answered evenly. “Why, do you want me to yell at you?”

“No” he shook his head.

“You know what you did wrong. And we’ll probably talk about it later” she shrugged. “What we are gonna do is go over there and you’re gonna apologize...”

“Yeah, I know” he sighed as they both stood up. “To coach and the team. Ok.”

“That’s right. And to the ref...”

“The ref?! But he’s such an idiot?!”

“Hey” she turned and looked sharply at him as they walked back towards the pitch where the teams were shaking hands. “It doesn’t matter if you agree with all of his calls or not. He was the ref and he was doing his job and you have to respect that.”

“Fine” he frowned and paused again. “Is that why you came all the way over here? To make me do that?”

“I came over here to tell you that I love you. That we love you. That mom and I are proud of you, well...for everything except the bad stuff at the end there.”

Ashlyn took a few more steps before realizing that Dodge had stopped behind her. She turned and cocked her head at him, unable to read his face. He looked confused and emotional and she was afraid she had made him cry.

“You ok bud?”

“You’re proud of me?” he asked in a shy voice – which was a real rarity for him.

“Of course we are Dodger” the keeper gave him a loving smile. “You gave us a whole lot to be proud of in that game. And then you messed up” she shrugged. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t be proud of all the good stuff” she took two steps back to put her arm around his shoulders again and continue their walk, side by side. “You’re gonna make mistakes as you get older honey. We try to guide you so you don’t make too many, or so they’re not mistakes that are too big or hard to fix. But your mom and I, we’re always gonna love you, even when you mess up.”

It wasn’t anything the boy hadn’t heard before from both parents but hearing it again under those circumstances made him feel like it was the very first time those words had ever been spoken. His whole face turned into a big smile and he bumped his shoulder into Ashlyn’s ribs as a kind of a ‘thank you’ and ‘I love you too’. The keeper smiled and, as they got close to the sideline again, searched out her wife. Ali’s face was full of concern and anxiety until she saw the smiles both her wife and son were sporting. The brunette knew that Ashlyn understood the frustration of being better than everybody else her age and having to play up with older kids, and boys no less. The keeper had done that almost all of her youth soccer life and knew better than anyone just how difficult Dodge’s road was. It wasn’t going to get any easier either, not for several years. Ali had always been one of the most talented players in her age group, but she had always been able to stay in that group. Her diminutive size was probably what held her back when she was younger. A burst of love surged in her chest as she watched her beautiful keeper and their talented son make their way over to the young referee. She held her breath, hoping Dodge would be able to swallow his anger and embarrassment long enough to make a decent apology. After a couple of words and a quick handshake between the boy and the ref, Dodge returned to his team and spoke to the coach while Ashlyn walked back to her wife’s side.

“How’d it go?” Ali asked hopefully as she gave Ashlyn a side hug and quick kiss to her cheek. “Is he ok?”

“Yeah, he’s alright. Made him apologize to the ref and his coach and teammates. He’s embarrassed mostly. But look at him” she grinned and nodded towards the loose huddle of boys who were eagerly talking and congratulating each other on their win. 

Dodge was quiet, as he usually was in the group of older boys – he wanted their approval so badly, just as he had always yearned for Drew’s. But there was that smile and look of joy back on his face again. Both moms knew he was trying so hard to be like the 10 & 11-year olds around him, it was practically killing him to be so reserved in their presence. But he could never hide that ebullient look he got on his face when he was doing anything soccer related. Playing the game made him shine from the inside and it was a beautiful thing.

“Our baby boy” Ali said softly as she leaned into her wife, neither taking their eyes off of their son. “God, I hope we’re doing the right thing.”

The moms took solace in the fact that Dodge played with his own age group in all of his other sports. They knew he was getting the age-appropriate comradery when he played basketball, baseball, and football and that made playing up in soccer much more tolerable for all of them. Dodge was a tough little kid who could take a blow and bounce back faster than any of the other Kriegers ever could. But he was soft as his Mama’s heart on the inside. 

“We are” Ashlyn squeezed her shoulder in reply. “We’re doing what he wants. He wasn’t having any fun playing with his own age group. It was even more frustrating for him, and bad for his game too” she paused. “He’ll know if this isn’t right for him anymore. He’ll tell us.” She said a silent prayer before speaking again. “We just have to trust him.”


	13. Team Krieger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter tonight. I won't be able to post again until Monday evening. Have a great weekend everybody! Vamos Orlando!!!

Josie started her middle school career with as much enthusiasm as she began every single school year – which was an outrageous amount. The girl loved going to school. It was just that simple. As she got older it got more challenging to navigate the complicated waters of mean girls, boys, popularity, and being an 11-year old kid. 13-year old Drew was in the early stages of puberty but Josie was still in that sweet pre-teen realm of wanting to look and sound and act and dress like high school girls but still being so young that she didn’t need a bra or have her period yet. It was bittersweet for her moms to see her striving to be older when all they wanted to do was slow down time and keep her their little girl forever. They both knew how difficult middle school and high school could be for girls. It was hard for boys too, but the scrutiny and unrealistic expectations set up for girls was and always had been tremendously unfair. 

It appeared that Josie would be following the Krieger history of being a late bloomer. Deb had told countless stories to her grandchildren over the years about how Kyle and Ali were both slow to enter puberty. She was always quick to point out that it didn’t matter and that every single body developed at its own speed, and that both of her kids had grown up to be beautiful and healthy. Nobody could argue that. The kids knew, when they were forced to look at their mother and Uncle Kyle objectively, that they were attractive grown-ups. So as much as Josie wanted to be wearing a bra and getting her period, she tried to be patient and trust that her Krieger genes would kick in eventually. Drew was also slow to develop but was on his way now and that also gave his younger sister hope.

6th grade was exciting for Josie and she eagerly listened to her mothers explain how the bus worked. They gave her the same two choices of bus stop that they had given Drew two years earlier. Josie’s choice was easy though. She wanted to go to the same bus stop, the #14 bus at the Bass Ave stop, that her big brother did. This was exactly what both her moms wanted too, but they were smart enough to know better than to push their daughter towards it. Josie was still the smartest of all their kids, and often the most practical too. But she could also be the most stubborn of the bunch and if she decided to dig her heels in on any particular subject there was no talking her out of it. 

Drew accepted the addition of his sister to his morning routine without much fuss. Ali and Ashlyn talked with him about waiting for Josie in the morning and actually physically walking with her to and from the bus stop in the morning and afternoon. They should have realized, however, that Josie would be the one ready first in the morning and waiting for her big brother by the mudroom door. Of course that’s how it would be. She may have had one of the smallest bodies in the 6th grade, but she was still more mature than most of her classmates and always would be. 

“Do I have to sit with her on the bus?” Drew had asked in August when he had his talk with his mothers about the upcoming school year.

“Do you want to sit with her?” Ali asked innocently. She assumed the answer was no, but wanted to make sure.

“Not really” he shrugged and had the good grace to look guilty about it. “I’m an 8th grader now...”

Drew was big man on campus again as an 8th grader in O’Malley Middle School and he didn’t really want his moderate level cool factor to take a hit because he sat with his kid sister on the bus. Neither mom could blame him if they put themselves in his shoes.

“You don’t have to sit with her, but you will not be mean to her or ignore her” Ashlyn gave him a stern look. “Do you understand me?”

“Yes” he sighed.

“We’ll talk to her” Ali added. “She’ll probably be fine sitting by herself or with one of her friends, if there are any on the bus...”

“Look, Drew, you’re getting older, we get that” Ashlyn gave him an understanding smile and softened her voice. “And you don’t need your little sister cramping your style” she chuckled and was happy to see Drew roll his eyes and chuckle too. “But you’re family. You guys have to look out for each other. Dodge and Lily are never gonna be at O’Malley with you so this is your one year to be the big brother your mom and I know you can be.”

Josie was completely fine not sitting with Drew on the bus, just as her moms expected. She didn’t have any good friends on the bus but there were a couple of girls from drama and sports that got on before and after the Bass Ave stop and she happily sat with them. Josie Krieger had an independent streak that was a mile long and that was a great example of it. She would have preferred to sit with Drew, just because she was used to him and felt comfortable with him, but she wasn’t afraid to sit by herself either. The only thing that bothered the redhead in September of 2032 was something she had dealt with before and, unfortunately, would have to deal with again as she moved through the school system. Every time she went to a new school, which would only be three times – elementary school, middle school, and high school, she encountered new kids who didn’t know about her giraffe birthmark. The birthmark didn’t grow so it actually appeared smaller over time as the rest of her body, specifically her neck, got bigger. But there hadn’t been a ton of growth by age 11 and the café au lait colored, roughly rectangular-shaped birthmark took up quite a bit of space on young Josie’s neck. It was about 2” wide and 3” high and it appeared on the front left side of her neck. It tapered down to only 1” wide near the very bottom of the giraffe spot. When she was all grown up it would look much smaller and take up a lot less room, but as an 11-year old it was nearly impossible to miss when anyone looked at Josie.

Halfway through the third week of school things came to a head with the bullying and teasing. Josie had been able to tolerate and shrug off most of the barbs from the kids who were just meeting her and her birthmark for the first time. Many of the classmates who had gone to elementary school with Josie or played sports or performed in the plays with Josie came to her aid as soon as the school year started. None of them even considered the birthmark anymore. They really didn’t see it when they looked at the redhead. All they saw was Josie. Franny Higgins, Josie’s nemesis from elementary school who was in the year ahead of her, was back in the picture after a lovely one-year respite when the girls had been at different schools. But now that Josie had moved up to Middle school she had been reunited with Franny and her bad attitude and mean-spirited snark. The 7th grade mean girl was still having problems at home and continued to take out her legitimate frustrations on a handful of unlucky kids at school. Josie Krieger was one of those unlucky kids and had tried to prepare herself mentally for the reunion all summer long. 

Franny was wiser and sneakier now than she had been back in elementary school. Her timing was better too. She didn’t physically attack other kids anymore, but she cut them to shreds with her cruel words. One of her favorite things to do was terrorize younger girls in the bathroom where there was a lot more privacy than out in the hallway or a classroom. She would tease them about their clothes or their appearance and push them up against the wall to really frighten them. She was also known to steal from her bullying victims and the girls’ bathroom was the best place to make that happen. She had a small group of devout followers who thought she was worth idolizing but not many real friends. Franny didn’t play sports although she was clearly talented enough based on her performance in gym class. She didn’t play an instrument or participate in any of the plays or musicals. The only activity Franny did was sing in the chorus and Josie avoided her there as much as possible. Thankfully the bully was an alto and Josie a soprano so they didn’t have to work together when the chorus did break-out rehearsals by vocal section. The redhead considered that a major victory and chalked it up to dumb luck.

Ali and Ashlyn were well aware of Franny Higgins and the impact she had on their daughter’s daily life. They had spoken to the guidance counselor about it in their first meeting the first week of school. They wanted Ms. Hynd to know what Josie had been dealing with in elementary school so she could help them protect the girl now and for the rest of her time in the Gloucester school system. Starting in 6th grade, the guidance counselors stayed with their students right up through graduation at the end of high school. The Kriegers could already see the benefit of the system with Drew and they were confident it would help Josie as well. Instead of having to try and bring a new guidance counselor up to speed each year, there was continuity and communication and a history already established between the family and the returning guidance counselor.

“Look, we’re not trying to be difficult” Ashlyn tried to temper their concerns by downplaying their roles as overprotective mothers, “but we’re not just gonna sit by and let a bully destroy our daughter either. We want you to know the history between Franny and Josie so you can help her when she needs it.”

“There’s no good way to say this” Ali closed her eyes briefly, knowing what she was about to say wasn’t something that would be received well. She knew it would make her look like one of those horrible moms who tried to make their child’s life as easy as possible. “But last year, without Franny tormenting her, well, it was such a relief. For all of us. Josie, most importantly, really relaxed and was able to enjoy school more.”

“And you’re worried that now that they’re back in the same school again, the same behaviors are going to start all over” Ms Hynd nodded. She was a pleasant-looking woman in her mid-40s. She looked like a young librarian with stylish glasses and slightly chubby cheeks. Her smile was warm and sincere and she had kind eyes under curly hair that was an odd but pleasing mixture of dirty blonde and slightly grey. “I don’t blame you one bit” she tilted her head sympathetically at Ali first, and then Ashlyn. “Thank you for telling me about this. You’re not being difficult” she smiled at the keeper. “You’re doing what’s best for Josie and I know that” she turned a page in the manila folder that housed all of the girl’s school information to that point in her young life. Ms. Hynd jotted a few notes on her own notepad and pushed her glasses back up to the bridge of her nose. “There’s not too much I can do with Franny...” she paused, realizing that the two anxious moms were tensing up again. She finished the rest of her sentence quickly, trying to reassure them. “She’s not one of my students. That’s all. But I’ll talk to her GC and see what I can find out, see if I can help her with Franny, if she needs it I mean.”

“Oh, ok” Ashlyn exhaled, relieved. “I thought you were gonna say there wasn’t anything you could do. Period. And just send us on our way to hope for the best.” 

All three women chuckled but there was still a good deal of tension in the small office.

“No, believe it or not, we’ve come a long way with how we interact with the kids. I really do want to be someone Josie feels like she can talk to if she needs to. Our system truly allows and encourages more of that kind of interaction than you might think.”

“I hope so” Ashlyn blew out a breath and gave her wife a quick, worried glance. “I’ll be honest with you” she leaned forward more and lowered her voice, her face deadly serious and eerily still. “We’ve heard the news stories and read the articles about kids getting bullied in school” she set her jaw and almost squinted as she tried to control the fear in her system. Ali reached over and put her hand on her keeper’s leg in a sign of support and solidarity as Ashlyn’s high voice spoke with surprising strength. “And we know how...tragically those stories can end. And I’m telling you...”

“We’re telling you...” Ali interjected with a determined nod.

...”We’re telling you that we’re not gonna let that happen to Josie. No freaking way” Ashlyn shook her head slowly as her heart pounded in her chest.

There was a short, awkward silence as the three women processed the unexpectedly serious turn the conversation had taken. Ashlyn, still on the edge of her seat, watched Ms. Hynd’s face carefully, trying to determine if they had found the ally they were looking for or not. Just when the Kriegers feared they wouldn’t be getting the assistance they were hoping for, the guidance counselor gave them a solemn nod as she spoke with conviction.

“Well that makes three of us then.”

Two weeks after that meeting, Ali and Ashlyn were seated in the same small office with Ms. Hynd, Josie, Drew, and Drew’s GC Mr. Eaton. Nobody looked happy. It was Thursday afternoon, just before 3pm. Drew should have been at his twice a week, after school soccer practice and Josie should have been up in Rockport for her weekly music lesson. Her hard, black, flute case sat across her lap as a reminder to everyone that they all should have been someplace else.

“Will somebody please tell us what the hell is going on?” Ali’s tense voice filled the room and made everybody fidget a bit. 

The four Kriegers sat side by side on the other side of the desk in four plastic chairs. Drew, Ashlyn, Ali, and Josie, from left to right, with the two guidance counselors sitting behind the desk. Josie looked extremely nervous but it was hard to tell how much of that was anxiety about missing her music lesson. Drew looked non-plussed, almost like he was laughing the whole thing off. His moms knew that was his defense mechanism though. When he was put on the spot he over-compensated by seeming to think the whole situation comical or beneath him somehow. It was the opposite of how he really felt, but only those that knew him very well knew that. Lily and Dodge were sitting on the bench outside the door in the main office where several administrators and teachers could keep an eye on them while they waited and wondered.

“There was a...situation this afternoon” Ms. Hynd looked from one mom to the other as she started to explain. “Involving both Josie and Drew I’m afraid.”

“Situation? What kind of situation?” Ashlyn asked, turning to look at her children as if the answer was written on their bodies for her.

“They’ve both spent the last two periods of the day in detention” Mr. Eaton added his voice to the explanation, frowning seriously. 

Ali’s jaw dropped to the floor at the same time Ashlyn’s eyebrows went up to her hairline.

“What?” the keeper blinked from one counselor to the next. “What happened?”

Mr. Eaton looked at Ms. Hynd and then they both looked at Drew who rolled his eyes while his cheeks turned pink. It was an agonizing 30 seconds before Josie spoke in a very matter-of-fact tone with her blue eyes fixed firmly on the edge of the desk in front of her.

“Billy Nunes started following me in the hall, after social studies, and...after I got my books out of my locker for math and reading” she paused and took a breath. “He kept following me and knocked all my books out of my arms.”

“Weren’t there any teachers around?” Ali’s incredulous voice spoke for both Krieger moms. “Didn’t anybody help you?”

“Kayla was there but when she started to pick them up for me, Billy pushed her down” Josie continued, the color in her own cheeks starting to rise as she re-lived the incident with the 7th grade boy she barely knew. “So I pushed him back.”

Ali and Ashlyn both looked at the guidance counselors indignantly. Clearly their daughter had been bullied again. Why the hell was she the one in the office, presumably to be disciplined? There was no Billy Nunes out there on the other bench.

“Things got worse from there...” Ms. Hynd tried to offer an explanation, recognizing the look in the Krieger moms’ eyes.

“Billy pushed me back, really hard, and I fell” the girl let her fingers play with one of the latches on her flute case, repeatedly lifting it up and then letting it snap shut again without realizing she was even doing it. The sharp snap was loud and annoying. “And then Drew was there” she shrugged.

“And what did Drew do?” Ashlyn turned to look at the boy, honestly not knowing what to expect.

“I didn’t even do anything!” Drew’s face jumped to life as his loud words surprised everyone. “It’s not like I hit him” he turned a pleading face to his Mama, desperate for her to believe him. “I swear!”

“Billy was about to tackle me” Josie finished the story. “And Drew tackled him first. That’s when Mrs. McHugh came into the hall and everybody took off.”

Ashlyn had to use all of her willpower not to give her son a high-five in the tense moment. But she couldn’t remember being more proud of him. Instead, she settled for giving him a surreptitious wink that only served to confuse him. Once his adrenaline and anxiety started to dissipate, he appreciated the show of support from his Mama.

“So, let me get this straight” Ali tilted her head and gave both counselors a withering look that all of the Kriegers knew meant she was about to go into her protective lioness mode. “My daughter was bullied in the halls, again. When her friend tried to help her, she was pushed down to the floor for her trouble. And when my son came to his sister’s defense he somehow did something wrong?” her words hung in the air, daring someone to challenge them. “Somebody’s gonna have to explain this to me because I can’t believe Josie and Drew are the bad guys in this scenario. In fact, I think we all know they’re not.”

Both guidance counselors stammered a bit and Ms. Hynd shot her colleague a look that said ‘why didn’t you tell me we were walking into a Mama Bear’s cave you jackass?!’ Mr. Eaton was in his third year with 8th grader Drew and knew exactly how willing to fight for their kids both Ali and Ashlyn were. At all times and at all costs.

“Mrs. McHugh made her report based on what she saw...” Mr. Eaton started, lamely.

“Of course she did, because she only saw the tail end of it” Ali challenged as anger flashed in her eyes. “You both know Josie and Drew aren’t troublemakers. Mr. Eaton, I can’t believe you’re allowing this to happen...”

“What is happening? Actually?” Ashlyn asked when she realized she didn’t know if Josie and Drew had been punished or would be or what the hell was going on. “Has Billy Nunes been suspended, I hope?”

“Was Franny Higgins there?” Ali asked the question that had just popped into her head that instant.

“Yeah, she’s friends with Billy” Josie nodded as she continued to play with the latch on her flute case. “She was right there next to him the whole time.”

“And was she teasing you with Billy? Were they both following you to your locker and saying mean things to you?” Ali turned her attention to the redhead next to her and reached over to put a loving hand on her back.

“Yeah” Josie nodded again. “But only Billy knocked my books down and pushed Kayla and me.”

Ms. Hynd sighed loudly and made more notes in her notepad, shaking her head slightly as she did so. She seemed frustrated with herself for not gathering that information before her student’s mother had to.

“Nobody saw that though, did they?” Ali asked the counselors with the beginnings of fury in her voice. “None of that matters huh?” She set her jaw and shook her head as she tried to calm herself down. “So our kids are just supposed to take the abuse and not defend themselves then? Is that how it works here at O’Malley?”

“Mrs. Krieger, I can assure you...” Mr. Eaton started to say before Ali interrupted him with a quirk of her eyebrow.

“Of what? Can you assure me that the girl who bullied my daughter for three years at elementary school isn’t going to keep right on doing it here in middle school? Can you assure me that my son won’t be punished for defending her when nobody else here seems to want to or be able to? What can you assure me Mr. Eaton? What?!”

“I think we’re done here” Ashlyn stood up, her face serious and her fists clenched as she too tried to keep her cool. “Neither of these kids did anything wrong today. Just the opposite, actually. They both did exactly what we’ve been teaching them to do all their lives. Stand up for themselves and look out for one another. We’re proud of Josie for defending her friend and standing up for herself. And we’re just as proud of Drew for looking out for his sister.”

Ali stood up and nodded at both kids to do the same as Ashlyn made her heartfelt speech. The brunette was still pissed off but she was overcome with love for her keeper.

“We’ve been telling you something like this was going to happen since the beginning of school 3 weeks ago” Ashlyn gave Ms. Hynd a pointed look. “It seems Franny Higgins is up to her old tricks, but has some helpers now too. Instead of calling us in here to discipline Josie and Drew, you should be telling us your step by step plan to handle Franny Higgins and other bullies like her. We look forward to getting that phone call. Until then, we’re done here.”

The keeper nodded respectfully at the counselors, turned and put her arm around Drew’s shoulders and ushered him out of the small office. Ali followed suit with Josie, helping the girl carry all of her things and letting the open door bang against the wall behind them in their wake. Dodge and Lily hopped up when they saw the rest of their family marching out of the main office, hesitating for a split second before following them with nervous giggles.

It took until Monday for the final decision to come down from the assistant principle who handled all the disciplinary action for the middle school. Ali got the phone call mid-morning and relayed the news to her wife immediately afterwards.

“Two afternoons of detention for each of them?!” Ashlyn’s voice was high and strident, full of outrage at the punishment meted out for Josie and Drew.

“Technically, they both pushed Billy in the hall and there were lots of witnesses” Ali sighed and rubbed her head as she sat at her Knight-Harris desk that morning.

After Ali and Ashlyn’s passionate defense of their children Thursday afternoon, all of the guidance counselors spent time on Friday asking their students who had seen what outside Mrs. McHugh’s classroom the afternoon before. Turns out more students were willing to give a true account of what really happened, which matched Josie’s version of events exactly, than the handful who had agreed to lie for Franny and Billy. 

“What about him? He better have been suspended or I’m going over to that school right this minute...” the keeper’s anger boiled over.

“He was, honey...he was suspended for 2 days, today and tomorrow. They got it right this time” Ali offered, trying to quell her wife’s upset.

“I suppose Franny got off scot free again, didn’t she?”

“Nope. Not this time” Ali couldn’t help but giggle, even though she felt foolish for doing so. “She got a whole week of detention and her guidance counselor has been instructed to start documenting every incident she’s involved in so they can start putting together a plan to try and...help her, I guess” she finished, quietly.

Both Ali and Ashlyn knew Franny Higgins was a girl with problems, and those problems started at home. Her parents had gotten a divorce last year and it had only made the girl more of a challenge for the school to handle. Franny had a tough life and neither Ali nor Ashlyn wished that on anybody. But their sympathy for the troubled girl would always take a backseat to their own daughter’s well-being. 

“Did you really beat that kid up?” Dodge’s face beamed with admiration as he waited for his big brother to answer his question back on Thursday evening at the dinner table.

All four kids sat around the nook table eating dinner with their moms which had become a rarity on a school night. But the two kid events on the schedule for Thursdays that Fall had already been missed by Josie and Drew – replaced by the disciplinary meeting after school with their guidance counselors and moms. 

“Did he cry?” Lily asked eagerly as Ashlyn and Ali exchanged a quick glance, trying to figure out how they wanted to handle the whole event with the two youngest kids.

“No, he didn’t cry” Drew scoffed at his youngest sister as he pushed the black beans and chicken around his plate. 

It had always been one of his favorites, as long as it wasn’t too spicy, and Ali had made it for dinner that night without really thinking about it. She hadn’t planned to reward Drew for fighting at school and possibly getting suspended. But her mind was so full of other worries about the incident, and the tough road Josie was on, that she didn’t even remember making the conscious decision of what to prepare for dinner.

“Hey, listen up guys” Ashlyn spoke specifically to Dodge and Lily who were sitting side by side on the banquette seat next to her. “Nobody beat anybody up. And nobody cried, not that there’s anything wrong with crying” she made sure to keep driving that point home as she had done all of the kids’ young lives. “Fighting in school, fighting anyplace, isn’t something to be proud of” she looked carefully at all four children as she spoke. “We’ve been telling you that all your life. You know that. Your mom and I are disappointed that Drew and Josie had to go to the office today and will probably get disciplined for fighting. But...” she paused to make sure she had all four sets of young eyes on hers before continuing. “Sometimes fighting is the only way you can defend yourself and we want you all to remember that it’s always ok to defend yourself.”

“Mama and I are proud of Drew for looking out for Josie today too, just like we’re proud of Josie for looking out for Kayla too” Ali added solemnly. “Fighting should always always be a last resort, and you should never ‘beat somebody up’, but being strong and brave and sticking up for yourself and your family...”

“And your best friend?” Josie asked cautiously.

“Yes, and your best friend too” Ali smiled at the redhead who looked very relieved. “Sticking up for anybody who’s being bullied is always ok with us. We’ll always be proud of you for doing that.”

“But that doesn’t mean you go looking for a fight” Ashlyn cocked her eyebrow at Dodge, knowing he would be the one to take this talk much too literally and let his future wanna-be police officer get into trouble. “We’re not saying we want you to go looking for trouble” she shook her head. “But if something like today happens again, then what Josie and Drew did...”

“What did they do though?” Lily tilted her head, still unsure of the details.

“Well,” Ali sucked in a big breath and shrugged at her wife before continuing. “Josie was being bullied...”

“By Billy Nunes, a 7th grader” Drew added, seeming a bit more relaxed himself now that the big event was out in the open and being discussed.

“A 7th grader?” Lily asked, shocked. “But Jojo’s only in 6th grade...” she frowned.

It was adorable the way young kids thought. It hadn’t occurred to Lily that different aged kids would be mean to each other like that in middle school. As if it had been strictly an elementary school thing and everybody had grown out of it once they moved up to middle school.

“Josie was being bullied” Ali continued, trying to get the basics of the story out before everything got exaggerated and embellished, even among her own four kids. “Kayla tried to help her and Billy pushed Kayla down. Then Josie pushed Billy away from Kayla” the brunette fought a chuckle that was threatening to escape her throat as she looked at all four of her kids’ enthralled faces listening to her every word. “Then when Billy tried to hurt Josie, Drew pushed him away.”

“So it was just pushing?” Dodge asked, looking more than a little disappointed.

“Yes, it was just pushing” Ashlyn gave him a serious look. “And that’s exactly what Mom and I are trying to tell you. You can defend yourself but you don’t have to go crazy. You shouldn’t do more than what you need to, to protect yourself.”

“That’s why we’re so proud of Josie and Drew” Ali picked up the important concept as both twins thought hard about what they were hearing. “They stood up for each other and Kayla without making the fight any worse than it already was. They both did great” she gave Josie and Drew a warm smile as she put her arm around each one of them, one on either side of her in the chairs across the table from the banquette seat. “And even if the school punishes them, we won’t be giving them any punishment here at home.”

“Wait, we’re not getting grounded or anything?” Drew asked, his mouth open in shock.

“Nope” Ashlyn shook her head and winked at her wife across the table. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

All four kids sat up straighter, looked at each other with surprise and excitement on their faces, and then started to chatter and giggle and eat with more enthusiasm at the groundbreaking news. The two moms shared another lingering look, pride and love passing between them, and continued enjoying their dinner. They listened and laughed along with the kids as they talked about school and soccer and music and the disgusting failures of Frankie and her puppy housetraining. It had been almost 5 weeks since Frankie joined the family and she was almost completely housetrained, but not quite. Dodge had stepped in a pile of puppy poop in the mudroom that afternoon and was still not over it. The conversation quickly devolved into poopy talk, even the older kids still cracking up at the gross bathroom talk that was Dodge and Lily’s main source of humor those days. 

“Alright, that’s enough” Ashlyn corrected them. “I don’t like that talk anytime, but especially not at the dinner table. You know better.” 

Begrudgingly, conversation shifted to nudity and other bodily functions. Instead of pooping and peeing, they joked and laughed about tooting and snorting and snot, with dog comparisons thrown in too. Ali gave her wife a gentle shrug, both women not wanting to curtail the sibling bonding. It was pretty rare for all four of them to be in good moods and interacting so well with each other for such a long stretch of time. Neither mom wanted to shut it down now, even though it was not usually acceptable dinner table conversation in the big old house. Ashlyn’s controversial approach to letting the kids use whatever talk they wanted to at home was still being followed by the Kriegers, but they were stricter about it with their two youngest. They had to be because Dodge and Lily took it to a whole other level, playing off each other and going farther than either Drew or Josie ever had. The keeper herself was usually the one who called a halt to the inappropriate conversation when it got too rowdy, but she felt the same way her wife did that night around the dinner table. She enjoyed hearing the kids having so much fun together, reveling in the small victory the Krieger family had won that afternoon in the O’Malley Middle School.

“I’ve got one” Dodge laughed and smacked his hand on the top of the table. “Why did the lobster blush?”

They all looked at each other and shook their heads, Ali moaned slightly in anticipation of the dumb, probably inappropriate joke to follow.

“I don’t know, why?” Josie finally asked with a giggle. 

“Cuz the sea weed!” Dodge howled.

Everybody joined him, even his parents, and Drew rolled his eyes but couldn’t keep the grin off of his face.

“Wait, wait!” Lily spoke loudly, getting on her knees on the banquette next to her twin and talking through laughter. “What did the ghost say to the bee?!”

She barely waited a nanosecond for anybody to respond.

“Boo bee!” the little blonde spluttered through more boisterous laughter and lifted her shirt up to expose her chest. “Get it? Boobie!” she pointed at both her nipples and laughed even harder as everyone else joined her.

“Tell the Englishman one” Josie urged Drew, leaning forward to look past Ali to her brother. “The one with the bear?”

Drew squinted back at his sister’s expectant face as he tried to figure out what the heck she was talking about. Ashlyn sighed, knowing the joke, and shook her head with her own quiet chuckle. 

“The Englishman, the Irishman and the Bear...” she looked at Josie, “that one?”

“Yeah!” the redhead grinned at the keeper as Drew finally caught on.

“Oh yeah, ok” he chuckled. “So, there was an Englishman, an Irishman, and a bear. The Englishman said ‘I like English ladies the best’. The Irishman said ‘I like Irish ladies the best’. And the bear said ‘I like bear ladies the best!’” Drew delivered the joke with an appropriate smirk and the other kids twittered and giggled about the salacious idea of preferring naked ladies.

“Ha!” Ali laughed her short, loud shout of a laugh and the whole table erupted in an outrageous ruckus. “Oh geez” she shared a loving eye roll with her wife.

“What does one saggy boob say to the other saggy boob?” Josie giggled through her delivery as Dodge and Lily laughed even louder.

“Tell us Jose” Ali encouraged with a grin.

“If we don’t get some support, people will think we’re nuts.”

“Oh my God” Ashlyn laughed and bowed her head at the new joke. “Who told you that one?”

“I don’t remember” Josie shrugged through more giggles. “I heard it on the bus.”

The bad jokes went on for several more minutes, still centered on body parts and naked private body parts as much as possible. The conversation gradually and organically turned to bodies and, somehow, sex. They had watched a tv show together recently where there was a mild sex scene and Ashlyn and Ali had taken advantage of it to talk about sex again, especially now that Drew was 13 and starting puberty. It had been mostly innocent but the twins had been bringing it up quite a bit in the days following.

“Mikey told me he saw his parents...doing it” Dodge said with wide eyes and a nervous giggle.

“Oh he did not” Drew dismissed the claim with another roll of his eyes.

“Yes he did” Dodge nodded more confidently. “He told me.”

“There’s no way” Drew chuckled. “Parents don’t have sex when their kids are around” he laughed and all of a sudden looked and seemed like he was 16 years old. “He’s making that up.” 

Josie and Lily watched their brothers interact across the table, carefully waiting for the final outcome of the delicate discussion. 

“Yeah they do too” Dodge countered, setting his jaw. 

Josie frowned as she thought hard about the debate.

“But parents are always around kids, so...” the redhead added more as a question than anything else.

“No, not like that” Drew sighed and sounded exasperated. He looked at his mothers quickly and his cheeks started to blush.

“All parents are different you guys” Ashlyn tried to bring the matter to a peaceful and quick resolution. “And you don’t know what Mikey saw so let’s just move on...”

Ali closed her eyes and prayed for the subject to change. Talking to her kids about sex was one thing and she was willing to tolerate the discomfort and awkwardness for their benefit. But talking to her kids about her own sexual habits was not something she ever wanted to do. Not ever.

“Think about it, genius,” Drew gave his brother a challenging look. “Have you ever seen our parents?” he left the ‘doing it’ or ‘having sex’ out but everyone in the room could hear the unspoken words clear as a bell.

“No.”

“That’s what I’m saying” Drew was using his hands to emphasize his point, shrugging and waving them palms up on either side – just like Ali did a lot of times.

All three youngest kids looked from Ali to Ashlyn and back again and if their thoughts could have been printed on their foreheads it would have been as easy to read what they were thinking about. Did their moms have sex? How often? When? Was there a chance they could walk in on them while they were doing it? There was an awkward silence and both Ali and Ashlyn felt more than a little self-conscious and exposed. The brunette was fighting the overwhelming urge to get up and start clearing the table, leaving the uncomfortable talk and not looking back. But in the split second before she could act on the impulse, Drew spoke again. His voice was part condescension and part exasperated amusement.

“You guys” he shook his head at his impossibly dumb siblings. “They do it” he said without looking at either mom. “Why do you think their bedroom door is locked sometimes?”

The three youngest kids blinked in wonder at the idea.

“Why do you think they come out in their robes when their door is locked?” he raised his eyebrows, not believing that they could be so naïve and forgetting that he was 4 years older than the twins and hadn’t figured this out when he was their age either. “You never wondered why they weren’t wearing their jammies like they usually do if you need something at night?” he looked right at Josie. “That’s how you know” he nodded confidently at all three of them, quickly bypassing Ali’s red face as he looked at Josie again. “If the door’s locked or they’re in their robes, they’re doing it...”

“Alright, that’s enough” Ashlyn finally found her voice but it was higher than usual and full of embarrassment. She was sure there was a right and a wrong way to handle this situation in this moment but she had no idea what either of them were. “People who...” she started and stopped when all four kids looked up at her expectantly. “When you get married...” she tried again, getting more flustered and blushing furiously. “What parents do in private is nobody’s business but their own. You don’t need to think about it or worry about it.”

Her words had some bite to them, simply because she was embarrassed and on the spot. Drew recoiled a bit from the unintentionally harsh rebuke and slumped his shoulders while his siblings seemed even more confused.

“Listen guys” Ali spoke, reaching across the table to take and hold Ashlyn’s hand. “Mama’s right. What we do in the privacy of our own bedroom is nobody’s business but ours.” The brunette’s words were soft and reassuring, even though her face was still red and embarrassed, and the kids reacted accordingly. They all relaxed and breathed a little easier. “And of course we have sex” she forced herself to say the words out loud with the most patient expression she could muster. “That’s part of being in love and being married, one of the very best parts...” she was encouraged by the squeeze Ashlyn gave her hand. “But that’s something we don’t share with anybody. It’s private, just between Mama and me, and that’s how it’s supposed to be” she looked from one curious face to another, finally resting on Drew’s still-frowning visage. “Drew’s right too” she sighed and chuckled. “And it’s ok to talk about it and ask us questions if you want, and we’ll decide if we want to answer them or not” she shrugged, surprising even herself with the words coming out of her mouth. She absolutely prayed that none of them asked her for any details about their sex life, but she hoped that by de-sensationalizing it she might make it a boring topic that they never revisited again. “Ok?”

“Yeah.”  
“Ok.”  
“Ah-huh.”  
“MmmHmmm.”

All four kids replied.

“Finish up your dinner now” Ashlyn interjected, hoping to guide the conversation another direction, any other direction. “Let’s try and get homework done before Meg’s game tonight.”

It took a few minutes but things eventually got back to normal around the nook table. Drew felt like a double winner because he had been praised instead of punished for helping Josie at school, and then his superior knowledge and experience had been substantiated by his mom at dinner too. All four kids eased through the last 10 minutes of dinner and then right into clean up and homework at the big dining room table. Ali and Ashlyn stole a quick minute to themselves in the mudroom.

“Oh. My. God” Ali whispered into her wife’s neck as they hugged and giggled and groaned at the painful conversation they had endured 20 minutes earlier.

“Whose idea was it to have kids again?” Ashlyn chuckled and squeezed her beautiful brunette tight.

“Ugh, did that really just happen?”

“Yes, yes it did” Ashlyn sighed and kissed her wife’s lips as they pulled apart just enough to make it possible. “Your face got soooooo red” she giggled.

“So did yours!” Ali poked her keeper in the side, making her squirm and giggle some more. “And your voice! It was so high” the brunette laughed. “I haven’t heard you that nervous in...forever.”

“Well, I took the first crack at it. You had more time to prepare...”

“That’s true” Ali gave her another quick kiss. “You stalled for me babe. You’re my hero” her nose-crinkled into an enormous grin.

“That’s all I’m sayin’” Ashlyn cheesed with her own grin. 

They held each other for a couple of minutes and enjoyed the simple, quiet moment, knowing it wouldn’t last too much longer because Josie and Dodge were almost done with their clean up duties in the kitchen. The keeper felt her wife exhale and relax in her arms, loving the way their bodies still felt so right together. Ashlyn smirked, even though Ali couldn’t see it, and then tried to keep a straight face so she could deliver the joke.

“Wanna go fool around?”


	14. Birthday Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut Warning

Ashlyn’s birthday fell, as usual, in the middle of the NWSL Championship Week that October. Both women were prepared to handle it better than they had last year when so many feelings had been hurt. Ashlyn had been true to her word since her birthday mistake the year before. She went to Meg’s home soccer games, every one. Depending on how late they were, Ali and the kids came too and it was just what they did – attend as many soccer games of their family members as humanly possible. Hannah and one or the other of her friends travelled to Meg’s away games while Ashlyn stayed home. There were exceptions, of course. Ali urged her wife to make the trip to North Carolina to see BC face the Tarheels the first Friday of October and Ashlyn did. But those were true exceptions and not the norm. Ashlyn was happy with the arrangement, even though Ali still felt a little guilty about it. 

After the tumultuous year they had as a couple the previous year, Ashlyn was eager to do her part to keep their relationship on an even keel. They both worked hard to avoid the traps they had fallen into last year. They made more time for each other, even though time was still at a premium for the two busy moms. They took more baths together. Ashlyn painted Ali’s nails more often and the brunette gave her keeper more massages than she had in years. She also started leaving romantic cards for Ashlyn to find in her garage office or her studio. The keeper began bringing flowers home for Ali more often. They didn’t go crazy or overboard, they just made a bit more effort every week to stay connected and keep the lines of communication open. Neither their life nor their relationship was perfect, but the squabbles they had this year were very average, ordinary beefs that happened between parents all the time. 

The only time things had been tense between them was during the last week of The Academy in August. The 4 families had all gone up for their vacation instead of renting the lake house the following week, which was good and bad. Ali, in particular, missed the normal 4-family vacation but was determined to make the best of the week they chose at The Academy instead. She realized that she didn’t like sharing her time with Ashlyn and her own family at The Academy with anybody. She hadn’t expected to feel that way and it had surprised her, but there it was. When Ashlyn was at The Academy she was always in demand and rightfully very busy and Ali didn’t get to see her as much as she wanted to. She was embarrassed to admit it, but it was just that simple.

What had made matters worse this year during that last week of the Academy, was that Taylor Gervasio had come up to do some interviews with the visiting coaches. Many of them wanted to participate as strugglers or supporters and Taylor coordinated their visit to The Academy and a film crew for the MHI videos. The director of the Mental Health Initiative still made Ali irrationally jealous and there was nothing the brunette could do about it. She had been trying to conquer those unwarranted feelings ever since the beautiful, talented woman joined the MHI 3-1/2 years earlier. Ashlyn teased her wife about it sometimes, but not nearly as much as she would have liked to. The blonde knew she would never want another woman and found the whole thing amusing, but she also knew that Ali really hated her jealous streak so Ashlyn tried to curtail any good-natured joking as much as she could. Ali and Ashlyn took the extra tension between them during Taylor’s brief visit that week and channeled it into some amazing sex once they got home. They were both able to laugh about it after releasing all their emotions and fucking each other with abandon.

“God damn woman” Ashlyn panted out with a hoarse chuckle as she tried to recover from the strong orgasm that had just rocked her entire body.

“Mmmmm...” Ali hummed happily as she crawled up her wife’s still-quivering body, placing hot, open-mouthed kisses in several strategic areas along the way. “Jesus, you’re gorgeous” she smirked down into her favorite hazel eyes once she reached her destination. She would never get tired of watching her sexy wife come down from that beautiful high.

“You sure make me feel gorgeous” Ashlyn chuckled again. “And then some” she wagged her eyebrows and made Ali giggle.

They kissed for a few minutes as they relaxed and felt the exhaustion start to take over their bodies. 

“You really like when I get jealous?” the brunette asked, her voice soft and close to a mumble as she lay sprawled across her wife’s upper body.

Ashlyn knew this was a potential minefield and took a minute to compose herself before replying.

“Baby, I like it because it makes my ego feel good” she admitted, her voice soft too. “But I hate it at the same time because I know it bothers you” she shrugged. “So I’m not sure how to do this...”

“No, it’s not a trick question” Ali lifted her head to look at her beautiful keeper and gave her a genuine smile. “You’re not gonna get in trouble” she blinked softly and tilted her head to one side as she took in the conflicted look on Ashlyn’s face. “I promise” she leaned forward and gave the blonde another lingering kiss.

“Well,” Ashlyn shrugged again and smiled adorably up at her beautiful brunette. “Then yeah, I kinda like it. Selfishly, I mean.” She paused, getting lost in those tiger eyes she loved so much. “How do you feel about it?”

“I hate it” Ali rolled her eyes and groaned quietly. “But I’ve always felt that way. I don’t doubt you honey. I know you would never do anything to make me jealous, not on purpose anyway. I trust you. I always have and I always will.”

“I don’t think less of you because you get jealous, you know.”

Ali opened her eyes wide, surprised that Ashlyn had so quickly gotten to the heart of what was bothering her that night. She felt her mouth open and then close again as she kept staring down at her keeper.

“How?”

“Honey, we’ve had this talk a few times before” Ashlyn rolled her eyes playfully. “We don’t always get so deep into it, but I know you think it’s an unattractive quality in yourself and you worry that I’ll find it ugly too” she reached up and cupped her wife’s cheek with one hand while the other played with the dark hair, twirling it slowly around her forefinger. “But I don’t. I’m not sure why” she shrugged again. “Maybe it’s because I’m too insecure and need the reassurance” she frowned slightly.

“No” Ali cut her off, her voice strong and clear despite the late hour. “It’s not that” she closed her eyes and then started to smile as she opened them again. “You’ve always been so good to me, and tolerant of me, no matter what it was. Always. Ever since the very beginning. You’re just so kind and accepting sweetheart” Ali let the backs of her fingers caress her wife’s cheek as they stared dreamily into each other’s eyes. “You always let me have my way and I think this is just you accepting me, my less attractive qualities and all. Just like you always do.”

“Let’s be honest though, your way is usually the best way” the keeper grinned and giggled. “But if I do think I’ve got the better idea, I always tell you.”

“You’ve always just let me do my thing, with everything” Ali frowned a little as she thought about how often her wife accepted whatever idea or arrangement she had, without question. Her face changed and Ashlyn could see a storm brewing there.

“Ok, just settle down” the keeper giggled again. “We’re getting a little carried away here now.”

“You let me arrange the fridge the way I like it, and the cupboards and the pantry...”

“Oh man, are we doing this?” Ashlyn laughed and patted her wife’s bare ass as the brunette continued her list.

“The bedroom, the basement, the office in the garage and I don’t even work out of it half as much as you do” she kept going. “The holiday decorations, the Christmas cards, the dogs...you even had the master bathroom completely redone so I could have my soaking tub – and you lost your beautiful shower...”

“Alright honey, you’re using your selective memory again” Ashlyn grinned up at her wife and shook her head. “You know that if I feel like my idea is better than yours I’ll tell you. You know that, right? It has happened repeatedly in the past, or are you claiming not to remember any of those times?” she laughed softly in her wife’s face before leaning up for a sweet kiss.

“I know, but sometimes I feel like a jerk. Like tonight you let me tear your clothes off and have my way with you...”

“Twice” the keeper winked.

“Twice” Ali giggled and gently pinched her wife’s nipple as playful punishment.

“Ow, what’s that for” Ashlyn laughed and covered her breasts with both hands across her chest.

“For interrupting me and being too cute for me to concentrate...”

“Al, listen” Ashlyn met her wife’s slightly conflicted gaze. “You know I’ll speak up if there’s something I feel really strongly about. You know I will because I’ve done it a bunch of times already. I don’t know why you feel like you have to drag yourself down this path tonight like this...but you’re not too bossy for me. You’re not too jealous for me. You’re not too anything for me. You’re incredible and you’re a great wife and mom and leader and I’ll follow you anywhere.”

There was a brief pause while the brunette chewed her bottom lip.

“I’m not too much?” Ali finally asked in a small, fragile voice that almost broke Ashlyn’s heart.

“Baby, God no” the keeper shook her head and pulled her wife down into a tight hug.

“I’m not too needy?”

“Alexandra Blaire Krieger” Ashlyn used her big hands to lift her wife’s head up so they were looking eye to eye again. “You are the least needy person I have ever known, and that includes Whitney who doesn’t have a needy bone in her entire body.”

“She really doesn’t, does she?” Ali giggled after taking a few seconds to absorb her wife’s words.

“Not a one” Ashlyn nodded and grinned. “And I know this all has to do with your jealousy thing – and, to be clear, I mean your not liking when you get jealous thing. Not the fact that you actually get jealous” she paused, not even sure if she had gotten the words out correctly herself. “It doesn’t bother me when you get jealous. I like it” she shrugged. “I’m sure Dr. Emerson will have a field day with that” she rolled her eyes and sighed lightly, relieved to hear Ali giggle. “But too fucking bad. You’re perfect for me. I’ve heard you say this about me before and it’s true for you too. You’re not perfect, none of us are, but you’re absolutely perfect for me.”

“I really love you” Ali mumbled against her keeper’s soft lips after giving her a slow, deep kiss to punctuate the issue once and for all.

“I really love you too baby.”

“I’m gonna show you just how much...again” Ali winked.

//

As October passed, the Boston Breakers surged into the playoffs in second place of the Eastern division of the NWSL. They played well but not quite well enough to make it all the way back to the Championship game. Houston won the Western division as well as the league Shield that year. For a while it looked like it would be the 6th time either Boston or Houston would win the NWSL Championship game. But Atlanta represented the Eastern division and beat Houston in the Final to take home the trophy. It was not quite how the Breakers wanted to end the season but everybody knew you couldn’t win them all. 

The good news for Ali was that Ashlyn would be home with them on her actual birthday for the first time ever. It was something the brunette had longed for since first getting together with her sweet keeper back in 2016. She had been waiting 16 fucking years to celebrate her wife at home on her special day and she was excited as hell to finally be doing it. Now, in their 17th year as a couple, she was finally getting her chance. Ali had a hard time hiding her excitement from her wife while Ashlyn mourned the Breakers’ loss and the end of another season. Any season that didn’t end with the championship trophy was a failure in Ashlyn’s eyes and Ali knew that. She gave her keeper time to grieve, but just barely. The Breakers lost their second playoff game on Saturday, October 16th and missed representing the Eastern division by just a couple of points in the playoff tournament. Ashlyn was back home in Gloucester on Monday, October 18th after finishing the owners’ meetings at the opening weekend of Championship week. She kept to herself in the garage office much of the day, working from home and picking up the twins from Elementary school as usual. Josie had her private piano lesson in the big old house that afternoon and the rest of the kids eased into their week, happy to have their Mama home with them. What Ashlyn didn’t know was that the kids had spent the evening before making birthday cards and drawings for her. Even Drew participated and made a joke-filled card that Ali knew Ashlyn would love.

//

“Good morning birthday girl” Ali purred as she stood next to the bed and bent over her wife’s groggy form. She kissed Ashlyn’s forehead, the tip of her nose, and then her lips, giggling as the blonde tried to grab her and pull her back into bed. “Stop” she chuckled as she pulled away, even though she wanted to crawl on top of her wife more than anything in the world.

“But it’s my birthday” Ashlyn pouted.

“I know it is” the brunette beamed but still tried to keep her voice and energy-level low-key. “That’s why you get to sleep in. I’ve got the kids this morning. You just stay in bed...”

“What?” Ashlyn’s face scrunched up as her sleepy brain tried to comprehend what was going on. It was only 6am but Ali was already showered and dressed for work.

“Just go back to sleep, beautiful” the brunette bent down and gave her wife one more kiss. “I’ll try to keep the kids to a dull roar” she chuckled as she moved towards the door to the 2nd-floor hallway. “Happy birthday honey, I love you.”

Ashlyn watched the door close behind the brunette and sighed happily. The idea of sleeping in was an appealing one, no doubt. It had been two years since the morning schedule changed when Drew started middle school, beginning an hour earlier, and the keeper still hated it. She stretched and yawned and chuckled at the sound of Ali’s hushed voice in the hallway trying to keep Drew and Josie from coming in to wake her up. The keeper rolled over and dozed for 30 minutes longer. She turned to her other side and waited for sleep to retake her again, but the pink envelope on her nightstand caught her eye and demanded immediate investigation. It was a ‘Happy Birthday to My Wife’ card with a sweet and romantic printed message inside, signed with hearts and kisses by Ali. She had included a note with a verse on the blank side of the card, carefully written in her own hand and encircled by the outline of a heart. It was simple but straightforward and honest and Ashlyn felt tears well up in her eyes as she read it.

“Ashlyn, my love, it’s my favorite day of the whole year and this year, FINALLY, I get to celebrate you the right way on the right day!! That makes me indescribably happy. Thank you for letting me love you. I promise I’ll never, ever stop.

“This little poem has stuck with me since we first got together. I think of it all the time and laugh to myself because it’s so absolutely true...

‘There’s something about  
You and I’m finding it  
Impossible to stay away.  
Whenever you’re near, ‘I   
love you’ is all I want to  
Say.’

-Francine Chiar”

“Mama!!” the kids all yelled almost in unison when they saw Ashlyn emerge from the back stairs into the kitchen.

It was 6:45am and Drew, Josie and Dodge were sitting at the nook table eating breakfast. Lily, the last to join of the siblings, was still walking through the family room towards the table in the rear corner. Both dogs scrambled over to greet the keeper and Ali turned and grinned from the nearby kitchen sink.

“Aw, couldn’t sleep?” the brunette frowned sweetly as Ashlyn moved in for a hug from behind and kiss of her cheek.

“I did, for almost 45 minutes” the keeper grinned and gave her wife’s cheek another kiss. “Thank you baby. And thank you for the card...I love it.”

Ali smiled and turned her head so they could share a real kiss. It didn’t last long because the kids and dogs had all joined them.

“Happy Birthday!” the chorus of voices rang out loudly.

“Thank you guys” Ashlyn bent over and hugged and kissed each child before petting both dogs.

“I thought you said she wasn’t getting up?” Josie asked the brunette. Both moms knew the redhead was annoyed because she didn’t have her birthday card and drawings set up for Ashlyn yet.

“I wasn’t” the keeper replied with a lazy grin. “But it’s my birthday and I got excited to see you guys” she shrugged. “I’m so glad we get to spend my birthday together, finally, after all these years.”

“Ok Drew, Josie, you need to be out the door in...” Ali paused to check the clock on the microwave next to her on the counter, “6 minutes. So...”

“Leave your dishes” Ashlyn interrupted. “I’ll take care of them for you today so I can get some extra hugs now, before you go to school” she winked at both kids who grinned back at her.

“Can we give her the cards now?” Drew asked Ali who was drying her hands and grinning at her wife and kids. 

Poor Ashlyn hadn’t even had any coffee yet and it was loud and busy in the middle of the kids. The brunette felt bad for her.

“Let her have some coffee first” Ali smiled. “But yeah, go get them” she nodded towards the dining room where she had already lined up the kids’ handiwork from Sunday evening.

“Did somebody say coffee?” Ashlyn let out a playful groan but they both knew she was more than a little serious.

“Sit down hon, I’ll get it” Ali patted the small, two-person table in the kitchen as she crossed to the coffee maker near the refrigerator. “I’ll make you breakfast too...”

Before they could discuss Ashlyn’s birthday breakfast, Dodge burst into the kitchen and slammed his birthday card down onto the table with one hand and a picture he had painted and drawn and colored with the other. The other kids were close behind him, only Lily lagged a bit, but, in her defense, she had just woken up a few minutes before Ashlyn herself.

“Wow, thank you guys” the keeper’s eyes were wide at the boisterous display. “I’ll look at Drew and Josie’s first, before they go to school” she clarified so nobody’s feelings would be hurt. “Then Dodge and Lily’s.”

It was a riotous few minutes, but Ali found herself getting emotional about how happy the kids were to be celebrating Ashlyn’s birthday with her. The brunette was afraid she was projecting her own hopes onto the kids, but their reactions this morning were authentic and genuine. Drew and Josie left for the bus at 7:05am, on schedule, and Ali drove the twins to school at 8:15am as usual. Ashlyn cleaned up the kitchen with a full stomach and a full heart. Ali and the kids weren’t the only ones who were feeling how different this was this year. Ashlyn honestly hadn’t expected to be so moved by it. Her family had always celebrated her birthday for her, just on a different day – one that fit in with her hectic October travel schedule. She really didn’t think it was that big of a deal. After this morning she could honestly say that she had been wrong. She cringed when she thought about how she had messed up Ali’s surprise birthday party for her last year. Hard lesson learned. 

The rest of the day would follow the normal Tuesday schedule for the busy family. Drew had soccer practice right after school. Dodge had his private music lesson up in Rockport where he continued to get better at his drums and other percussion instruments. Then Lily and Ali had soccer practice that evening from 5-6pm. Ashlyn knew that the extended family was coming over for birthday dinner and cake at 6pm and that would fill the rest of the night for them all. If she was lucky, she would get some private, grown-up time with her beautiful brunette later that night. 

The keeper nearly got surprised out of her skin as she stepped out of the shower that morning after cleaning up the kitchen. It was 9:15am and she should have been alone in the house except for Marisol, the house cleaner who still came every Tuesday and Friday morning. But Marisol would never have entered the master bathroom, or bedroom either for that matter, if either Ali or Ashlyn were inside.

“Jesus!” Ashlyn yelled, her voice high and loud as she clutched the towel to her chest and panted for breath. “You scared me!” she chuckled nervously as she buried her face in the towel to dry it off and steady herself.

“Aw, sorry babe” Ali giggled from her spot, leaning against the inside of the master bathroom door with her arms folded across her chest and a growing smile on her face. “It’s just me. No need to be scared.”

“What’s the matter?” Ashlyn’s head snapped up, out of the towel, as her brain started working overtime. “Are the kids ok? Are you ok? Why aren’t you at work?”

“Everybody’s fine, I promise” she tilted her head to the side just a bit and smiled adoringly at her agitated wife. “And you’re cute.”

Ashlyn took a minute, a few deep breaths, and then started to dry herself off, shaking her head and chuckling to herself.

“So, why are you here?” she questioned again, loving the way Ali’s eyes followed her every move with the towel. “If you’re just going to tease me like you did this morning...” she nodded towards their bed.

“I’m here to see my birthday girl wife” Ali smirked, her eyes travelling up to meet the mirthful hazel ones 2 feet in front of her. Ashlyn was clearly enjoying her wife’s reaction to all the bare skin on display. The brunette was sure her eyes were darkening and giving away her quickly mounting desire. “And I’d say I have perfect timing.”

“Only if you’d like to put a show on for Marisol” Ashlyn lowered her voice and shook her head with a frustrated sigh. “You’re absolutely killing me Krieger. I don’t think you’re doing it on purpose...but you’re still killing me.”

“Who said anything about Marisol?” Ali shrugged and tried to keep a straight face.

“Ummm...it’s Tuesday” Ashlyn replied with a quizzical look. “Duh.”

“Have you seen Marisol here today?” the brunette let her eyes drop down to where her wife was drying between her legs. Ali felt a pang in her core as her heartrate picked up at the thought of what she’d like to do there herself.

Ashlyn frowned and straightened up, wrapping the towel around her waist as she ran back through the morning in her mind’s eye. She didn’t notice Ali chewing on her bottom lip and staring at her pretty pink nipples that were still at attention from the shower and drying off. The brunette squeezed her own hands tightly under her folded arms in an effort to keep them from groping her wife right there on the spot.

“No, I haven’t” Ashlyn squinted at Ali, putting her hands on her hips. “Now that you mention it” she studied her wife’s face and saw how turned on she was. “What did you do?” she smirked as she took a step closer to the brunette.

“I uhh...” Ali stammered, completely distracted by the birthday girl who was mostly still just in her birthday suit. “Ummm...I asked if she could come this afternoon instead” her words were disjointed as thoughts of fucking her gorgeous keeper took over her brain.

“Oh yeah?” Ashlyn leaned forward, putting her hand against the wall right next to her wife’s head and leaning in close. 

The keeper used her free hand to play with the pretty silver necklace that complimented the brunette’s pale peach blouse and light grey dress pants. The only part of her work outfit that Ali had taken off were her shoes. Ashlyn could feel her wife’s heartbeat through her fingertips as they grazed the top of her chest. She gazed down into dark, lidded eyes and felt her own body respond as her stomach flip-flopped. She felt giddy and excited. She couldn’t wait much longer to touch her beautiful brunette.

“Yeah” Ali spoke so softly it was hard to hear her, even from only a foot away.

“So, you’re saying we have the rest of the morning...all to ourselves?” Ashlyn drawled, desire dripping from each word as her hand continued to trace light patterns on her wife’s throat and neck.

“Mmmm...MmmmHmmm...” Ali nodded and swallowed hard as she felt the passion starting to pool between her legs. “Unless you have something urgent at work...” she added quickly, hoping upon hope that this was not the case.

Ashlyn paused briefly as they locked eyes. She trailed her fingertip from the middle of Ali’s throat down to her arms, still folded across her chest. She pulled lightly on one of the brunette’s arms but it didn’t budge. She knew it was her wife’s last-ditch attempt at self-control. If Ashlyn did have work to do, Ali was trying not to get herself so worked up that she wouldn’t be able to recover. The keeper leaned her head forward so her lips were an inch away from her wife’s ear and whispered... 

“The only urgent thing I have to do is to fuck my sexy wife on my birthday...” 

As soon as Ashlyn delivered the line she stepped back to the original 2 foot distance, never breaking eye contact with the brunette. The scent of Ali’s shampoo and moisturizer lingered in Ashlyn’s nose and made her dizzy with want. She was surprised that the brunette hadn’t moved a muscle yet, but she could see that her wife’s chest had started to rise and fall more rapidly. They stared lustfully at each other for another few seconds without moving. Finally, Ashlyn dropped the towel from her waist to the floor with another smirk, knowing that there was no way Ali could resist her now, no matter what kind of waiting game she had been trying to play. The truth was, the brunette had been stunned into stillness by her wife’s hot breath so close to her skin and her tantalizing words in her ear. Ashlyn... beautiful, gorgeous, sexy Ashlyn was all Ali could see or think about. Her 47-year old body still looked incredible. Nowhere near as amazing as it had when she was still playing professional soccer, but Ashlyn Krieger was going to be a beautiful woman well into her elder years and everybody knew it. Both she and Ali took good care of themselves. They tried to eat smart whenever they could but still splurged sometimes. Life was too short to spend it denying themselves everything yummy all the time. Ashlyn worked out in the basement gym more often than her wife did, but Ali had gotten herself back in better shape that Spring when she had started playing soccer again herself. They both were fit and beautiful but nobody would mistake them for professional athletes or workout warriors. They were in their late 40’s and had the laugh lines around their eyes and mouths to show for it.

As soon as Ashlyn’s towel hit the floor Ali snapped out of her stupefied state.

“Fuck yes...” she moaned as she rushed into Ashlyn’s arms, their lips crashing together in a kiss that quickly became heated and passionate. 

The keeper’s shaggy hair was still mostly wet and the occasional trickle of water slid down her face and into the kiss. Ali squeezed a handful of wet hair at the back of the blonde head and felt another stream of water hit her other hand as it groped at Ashlyn’s bare ass. Their mouths were moving in synch, tongues probing deeply and firmly as their lips rhythmically worked together in slow, sultry kisses. Ashlyn’s hands moved between their bodies, determinedly undoing the buttons of her wife’s soft blouse at first, then moving to the clasp and zipper of her dress pants. The skin to skin contact of their stomachs once Ali’s blouse was open sent a jolt through both their bodies as they continued making out. They moaned into each other’s mouth as the kisses got deeper and hungrier.

“You look...so hot in this outfit...” Ashlyn panted out as they rested their foreheads together, breaking the kiss for air. “But I can’t wait to get it off of you...” she dug her fingertips into the warm flesh of Ali’s back, kneading them up and down underneath the blouse that billowed behind the brunette. Ashlyn regretted that she hadn’t gotten the dress pants all the way unfastened and down yet.

“What do you think...of my other outfit?” Ali purred in a throaty chuckle.

It hadn’t occurred to the keeper to look at what her wife was wearing underneath her work outfit. But of course Ali would have worn something sexy for her on her birthday, especially if this morning delight was part of her plan.

“What?” Ashlyn separated their bodies with gentle hands on Ali’s hips, frowning at the dress pants still in her way. 

The keeper shook her head to clear it and focused her eyes on what was right in front of her. She pushed the blouse over Ali’s shoulders and let it drop to the floor behind her as she admired the beautiful peach colored lace bra with delicate embroidered peaches all over each sexy cup. Thin straps over her shoulders and around her chest held the delicate lingerie piece in place. The couple usually used the peach fruit emoji to signify the brunette’s ass when they texted and it had carried over into their conversations and flirtations as well. They also sometimes used the peach as a reference to their southern belle role-playing fun. It was always accompanied by a “sugar” or two between them just to drive the point home. Ali had chosen her tantalizing outfit for Ashlyn’s 47th birthday with peaches in mind, in all their wonderful uses. She bought the lingerie set to match the blouse which was actually one of her favorites. She didn’t have very much of her summer tan left, just the tiniest hint remained by mid-October, but peach was one of her best summer colors against her tanned Italian skin.

“There’s more” she offered with a sultry giggle when Ashlyn spent more than two minutes ogling the top of the lingerie. 

Ali dropped her eyes and finished unbuttoning her own pants, stepping back and out of them until she was standing in just the pretty peach bra and sexy, matching panties. She posed with her hand on her hip and a smirk on her face as she watched her wife’s whole face take in the simple but devastatingly sexy outfit. 

“Wow...” was all Ashlyn could manage, her voice low and husky as desire swept through her body again. She raked her eyes up and down the brunette’s beautiful body twice and was working on a third time before Ali giggled breathily again and made a slow, deliberate turn. “Holy shit...”

“I thought my birthday girl deserved some birthday thong today too...” Ali teased as she bent over slowly and made a show out of picking up her clothes from the floor. 

The brunette knew her wife would be mesmerized by her bare ass cheeks and gave her hips an extra sway as she walked the two steps to the door, opened it and tossed her clothes onto the chair of the nearby dressing table. She swished her hips again and popped her ass out as she held onto the door frame, doing a little twerk because she knew Ashlyn loved it. She only got a couple of pops completed before the keeper was on her in a rush.

“Fuck, that’s so damned hot” Ashlyn groaned as she grabbed Ali by the hips, eyes glued to her favorite ass in the world. She loosened her hold instantly and let the brunette move freely while she gently caressed the soft skin she loved so much. Her big hands glided smoothly down the curve of Ali’s ass, giving a slight squeeze before roaming around the rest of the exposed area. The keeper’s whole body reacted to the stimulation and she felt the passion pool between her legs in response. “Jesus...” she breathed out as her excitement skyrocketed.

“Do you like it...Sugar?” Ali drawled, looking over her shoulder and watching the lust fill her wife’s face.

“I love it. You know I do” the keeper’s voice was thick with want as she continued moving her hands around Ali’s ass, lower back, and the backs of her thighs. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the rolling, bouncing flesh.

Seeing that look on Ashlyn’s face only made Ali want her more. So much more. It had been hard to resist the pull of the blonde that morning when she woke her up, and Ali had been thinking about getting her back into bed ever since.

“How do you like it now?” she teased with dark eyes, backing her ass up into Ashlyn’s crotch, loving the way the coarse, short hairs felt against her smooth skin. It was electrifying and the jolt raced through her entire nervous system in a matter of seconds.

“Oh yeah, fuuuuckkk...” Ashlyn groaned and her eyes rolled up into her head. She bit her bottom lip as she leaned into the contact, lost in the erotic sensation.

They moved together like that for several minutes with the keeper practically drooling as she got more and more aroused. Ali reached behind her and held Ashlyn’s body tightly to her own ass, just as turned on by what was happening and the friction and heat being generated between them.

“Where do you want me?” the brunette’s voice was choked with rising passion. “What do you wanna do?”

“Unnnhhhh...” Ashlyn moaned in response, trying to get her brain and mouth to formulate words instead of grunts and whimpers. “I wanna fuck you so bad...”

“Yes, Ash” Ali panted breathlessly, even hornier than a minute ago. “God, I want that too...”

The keeper pulled her wife back into the bathroom by her hips, away from the door frame. She stumbled as she turned them both around to face the big mirror over the double vanity on the opposite side of the room from the door. Ashlyn knew being fucked while standing up wasn’t her wife’s favorite thing, but she was hoping a little birthday leeway would make it ok this morning. Much to her delight, Ali seemed to be on the very same page.

“Yes, fuck yes...get the strap...” the brunette gasped out as she realized what her keeper was attempting to do. “Hurry up” she instructed with another throaty chuckle. “I need to feel you baby...”

Ashlyn moved quickly to the door and looked back just in time to see her wife starting to untie the lingerie top.

“No, don’t” she shook her head, face flushed and lips slightly swollen from all the kissing. “Leave it on. Please.”

Their eyes met, both pairs dark with enormous desire.

“Whatever you say, All-star...” Ali purred as she bent over the vanity and shook her ass some more, making it even more difficult for her wife to walk away from her in that moment.

Ashlyn was back in a flash, hopping as she stepped into the strap-on harness that was sized to fit her hips and waist and ass. Ali extended an arm, taking her favorite knobby dildo from the keeper and quickly washing it in the sink in front of her while Ashlyn finished buckling herself in. The house was still and quiet. Ali had gated the dogs in the front living room, with puppy Frankie in her crate. The brunette had planned to set up some candles and some music in the bedroom after checking to make sure her wife was still in the shower. But she had gotten distracted. Then things had escalated so quickly. Now here they were, about to have sex in their bathroom with no special touches like candles or music. Too fucking bad. There was no way she was stopping what they were doing, not for anything.

Ali held her breath when she saw the hungry look on her wife’s face as the keeper stepped towards her, ready to slide the dildo into the harness. Ashlyn took the knobby toy from her beautiful brunette and swallowed hard as she watched Ali spread her legs out wide and bend over the vanity. Dark, whiskey-colored eyes watched wantonly from the mirror as the keeper dragged the dildo between her own legs, collecting all the juices that had so generously accumulated there.

“Jesus Christ...” Ali whispered under her breath as she felt her heart start to pound even faster in her chest as she stared at the blonde.

Ashlyn secured the well-lubed toy into the harness and then moved her hands all over her wife’s ass, back, shoulders, arms, and thighs. She was so excited about her birthday morning surprise that she had to remind herself to calm down so she could actually do what needed to be done.

“Ready baby?” she asked, needlessly. One swipe of her fingers between Ali’s legs told her just how completely drenched and ready the brunette really was.

“So fucking ready...” Ali husked out as her heartrate increased again. “I want you so bad...fuck me baby, please...” she begged, not even trying to keep the whine out of her desperate voice.

Ashlyn bent over her wife and let her body rest completely on top of Ali’s. She slowly moved her long arms from the side of the brunette’s legs up to her hips, and up her sides, skipping lightly over the peach strings she encountered in both places. The Frankfurt tree tattoo that spread out beneath the Little Prince tattoo on her wife’s left side always grabbed the keeper’s attention. She could see almost half the tree in this position and it made her emotional every time. She wondered how long that would last but had no desire for it to stop anytime soon. Ashlyn put one hand into the brunette bun and the other hand on Ali’s face, cupping her chin and one cheek. Ali groaned at all the contact, missing her wife’s hands on her breasts but trying to be patient. She turned her head a bit more to the side, keeping her eyes on the darkening hazel ones in the mirror, and took Ashlyn’s thumb into her mouth. She licked it and sucked it as she felt the dildo poking her in the back of her thigh.

“Mmmmm...” Ashlyn hummed into the warm, open-mouthed kisses she placed all the way down her wife’s spine. “That fucking mouth of yours...damn Al...” she mumbled into the soft skin of Ali’s lower back.

The brunette pushed her ass back into her keeper, more than ready for the next step. Just to make sure Ashlyn got the hint, Ali sucked extra hard on her thumb and bit down gently. Ashlyn inhaled a sharp breath at the harsh sensation and took the hint. She chuckled hoarsely and moved a hand down between Ali’s legs, moving the thong aside, separating soaking wet folds and spreading out the hair she loved so much. She worked her lips up the brunette’s back again in a random pattern as she used her other hand to bring the strap-on into place, the tip just poking at Ali’s wet and waiting entrance.

“Oh fuck, yesssssssss...” Ali whined in a high-pitched whimper as her wife finally slid the thick dildo inside her.

Ashlyn moved slowly but steadily, letting each knob make itself known as Ali’s greedy pussy took it all in. She stood up straight to watch, untying the peach bra strap across Ali’s back at the same time and letting the front of it fall forward. That was another gorgeous sight the keeper would never ever tire of seeing – Ali’s beautiful lips and folds devouring whatever toy they were using. Goddamn that was sexy. Ashlyn held onto her wife’s hips and watched her gorgeous body shudder as she filled Ali all the way up. The brunette’s eyes were closed until she felt Ashlyn’s thighs press right up against her own skin, the strap-on buried to the hilt. When the keeper saw Ali open her eyes then, it took her breath away for a few seconds. There was so much lust and love and trust and hunger in them that it was hard for Ashlyn to move right away. Ali was bent over the vanity at the waist and she had lowered her head during the agonizingly slow entry between her legs. But now her head was back up as she lifted the top of her torso off the cool countertop. She wanted Ashlyn to be able to see and enjoy the lingerie for as long as possible. The bikini-style top hung down loosely from her neck now but it was still beautiful and titillating to look at. The embroidered peaches seemed to shimmer in the light as Ali’s body started to rock to her keeper’s slow rhythm.

“So gorgeous...” Ashlyn intoned reverently. “So beautiful...so sexy...so good...so magnificent...so perfect...” she chanted in time as she pumped into her wife from behind, slowly and steadily, making each thrust count.

“So yours...” Ali added to her wife’s mantra, locking eyes with her in the mirror and grunting slightly with the thrusts. “I love being yours Ash. Make me yours...keep me yours...forever...don’t ever stop making me yours.”

As so often happened with the couple when they had some time to themselves, their typical sexy and fun lovemaking turned emotional and deeply intimate for a few minutes. The love they shared was special and powerful and everlasting and sometimes it demanded a moment of recognition and acknowledgement while they were having sex. Sometimes the moment could be so overwhelming for one or both of them that they shared tears, appreciating just how deep and abiding their love truly was. That morning, the moment surrounded them as they blinked at one another through the mirror, devotional words still ringing in their ears.

“I love you so fucking much baby” Ashlyn intoned with watery eyes and trembling lip as she held the pace steady, respecting the moment for what it was.

“I love you too” Ali nodded back, just as moved and overwhelmed and lovestruck.

The keeper’s angle changed on the next pump and Ali responded with a guttural moan that made her close her eyes briefly, even though she tried hard to keep them open.

“There’s my spot” Ashlyn smiled and, as the soulful moment came to its usual quick close, the smile turned into a smirk as the keeper pounded harder and faster into one of the places she knew drove her wife wild.

“Fuck yes... shit...unnnhhhh...” Ali moaned, reaffirming her wife’s expert placement with the dildo. “Right there...faster...” she put both hands flat on the vanity to try and brace herself for the pounding she was craving. “Harder!”

The urgency in the brunette’s voice sparked harder and faster pumping from Ashlyn. The blonde kept one hand firmly on her wife’s hip, making sure their bodies stayed where she wanted them as they slammed into each other. Ashlyn moved her other hand up to play with and tug on Ali’s nipples that were already becoming stiff and standing up straight. The sounds from their wet, slippery skin slapping together filled the room and drove them both crazy. Ashlyn felt a tremble from her wife’s leg and saw the look on Ali’s face – there was no way she was going to last much longer. The shower tease, the sexy making out, the lingerie reveal and twerking, and all of the corresponding responses had gotten both women incredibly turned on and wet. The brief but emotional pause had only added to the fervor and brought them right to the brink already.

“You like when I fuck you like this?” Ashlyn’s horny, husky voice sent a thrill through her wife’s body as if it was another appendage making contact.

“Unnnhhh...” Ali tried to get words to come out but couldn’t. She moaned loudly again when her keeper pinched her nipple.

“You like that too, don’t you?” Ashlyn panted into her wife’s back as she bent over her to reach those beautiful, dark nipples. “I know you do...” she bit Ali’s skin gently and then squeezed her other nipple hard.

“Fuck!” the brunette shouted. “Yesssss!!” she slammed her hand down onto the countertop and felt another tremble shake her leg as she climbed closer to her release.

“Yeah, now you do it” Ashlyn ordered, giving one last squeeze to each nipple before taking one of Ali’s hands and pulling it under the flopping bra to take over that portion of the program. 

“Mmmmmm...unnnhhhh...fuck...” the brunette gasped as the thrusting pace and power increased one last time. She knew Ashlyn was at her top speed and that meant it was time to start playing with her clit and getting her off. “Please babe...”

“Don’t worry sexy, I’ve got you” Ashlyn moved her arm down the front of Ali’s body until the countertop blocked her path. She pulled her arm out and slid it back in between the brunette’s crotch and the edge of the vanity, loving the way Ali shuddered again at the new touch. “Goddamn you’re so fucking sexy” the keeper husked out as she felt her own clit, already enjoying the contact from the button in the harness, jump to life as soon as she touched her wife’s bundle of nerves.

“Yes! Unnnhhh...Yes! Mmmmm...Ashlyn!” Ali shouted when she felt strong fingers rubbing fast and hard on her sensitive nub. “Oh my God...Oh my fucking God...” she started to chant, she could practically taste her orgasm it was so close. “Don’t stop baby...unnnhhhh...don’t stop...”

Ashlyn didn’t stop. She let her fingers slide back and forth across her wife’s clit as fast and hard as she could go. She felt Ali grind down into her fingers looking for even more pressure. Both of the brunette’s legs were starting to quiver and give out as the two women stared at each other in the mirror, one heaving mass of bodies and arms and skin working together towards their ultimate goal.

“Yessssssssssss!!!!!!!!” Ali finally shouted at the top of her lungs a few seconds later as an enormous orgasm swept her away.

She rode it as best she could but would have fallen to the floor without her strong keeper to hold her up. Both legs gave out and she was unable to keep her head up any longer either, dropping it gracelessly to the back of her hand on the countertop in front of her. Ashlyn worried about the edge of the vanity being uncomfortable as her wife flailed through her high, so she carefully lowered her to the thick white bath rug on the floor. She tried to keep the dildo inside her as they moved but it didn’t work and she had to pull it out earlier than Ali usually liked.

“Want me to put it back in?” she asked breathlessly once Ali was settled on her stomach on the soft rug, her body still twitching through some aftershocks.

“No” she gasped back with a lazy, blissful grin on her glowing face. She looked into Ashlyn’s face, pink and sweaty from both lust and exertion as she knelt across her, straddling Ali’s upper thighs. “I want you to come. I wanna make you come, right now” she reached over and fondled the closest pink nipple she could find. “That was so fucking good...I want you to feel that good too.”

Ali started to roll over but found her body wasn’t ready to cooperate just yet. She pouted and chuckled and moaned, still coming down from her high. Ashlyn loved her idea and wouldn’t question it. She had been extremely turned on before she had even put the harness on. Then 20 minutes of exquisite pressure from each and every thrust she made into her beautiful brunette coming back into her own clit from the strap-on had nearly driven her over the edge already. She was as close as she’d ever been and knew she would come with just a little stimulation. She started to climb off of Ali and shifted positions so she was straddling only the back of one thick thigh along the way. She released the harness and pulled it off quickly and efficiently. The brunette’s dark eyes were watching her closely as they both tried to catch their breath.

“Wanna watch me?” Ashlyn proposed with a devilish smirk as she brought her hand down to her own crotch and moaned when she felt just how wet she really was.

“No” Ali shook her head, a serious look in her hooded eyes. “Ride my ass. Oooh, fuck yes” she shivered at the thrilling thought and closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling for a few seconds. “Come all over me baby” she lifted her ass up as best she could and gave Ashlyn one of the sexiest smirks the blonde had ever seen. “Soak me in you...I want you to cover me with your delicious, come...”

Ashlyn’s body responded to the sultry words coming from her wife even as her brain fought against the idea. She felt a gush between her legs and her chest was already starting to heave as her breathing got heavier the more turned on she got. But she had only come that way once. They had tried dozens of times since then and it was always a fun, provocative, sexy several minutes of lovemaking but it never led to an orgasm. Part of Ashlyn just wanted to masturbate while her wife recovered from the powerful orgasm she had just experienced. She was almost painfully turned on and really needed her release. But part of her was madly in love with the idea of getting off while riding Ali’s gorgeous ass again.

Ali wasn’t firing on all cylinders just yet, but she knew what her wife was worried about. She squeezed Ashlyn’s hand and pulled it to her mouth to kiss it.

“Rub your clit while you’re up there” she nodded towards her ass and grinned lasciviously up at the blonde. “I wanna watch you do that.”

Well that was a slam dunk as far as Ashlyn was concerned. She and Ali had always been pretty indifferent about who rubbed what for whom while they were having sex. The truth was that there were so many wonderful places they wanted to touch while they were fucking that it didn’t matter whose hand was where. She had wanted to get herself off anyway so why not do it up on Ali’s ass if it came to that? The keeper returned the sexy smirk and bent down to give her wife a passionate kiss. Ali pulled her back down into a second, deep kiss as soon as the first one was done and they both chuckled with excitement when Ashlyn finally got back up on her knees. As horny and desperate as she was for her own orgasm, the keeper couldn’t help taking a couple of minutes to lick and suck and kiss those beautiful ass cheeks.

“Ooh” Ali flinched when her wife moved the back of the thong out of her way again.

“You ok?” 

“Take them off” the brunette frowned in discomfort. She wasn’t sure exactly what didn’t feel great down there at the moment but she was sure it had something to do with the strip of fabric digging into all of her soft parts. She reached up and pulled the bikini top over her head while Ashlyn peeled the thong off of her and down her legs. Both pieces of lingerie were tossed aside and Ali sighed in relief. “Much better” she giggled as her wife got back to work with her mouth.

“I’ll say” Ashlyn playfully agreed. “I know I’ve told you a million times before...I love love love when you wear this sexy stuff for me. A lot. But I never miss it when you don’t. So if it’s not fun or if it’s uncomfortable...”

“I know” Ali blinked lovingly back at her sweet keeper. “Thank you honey. Now get moving” she winked. “That ass isn’t gonna ride itself and I know you need to come...”

“Right” Ashlyn nodded and felt almost giddy as she planted one last kiss near the top of her wife’s beautiful ass. “And you are absolutely right” she chuckled and made a pained face as she maneuvered into position. “I can’t believe how fucking wet I am...” she closed her eyes as she felt her abundant juices spread out over Ali’s warm skin beneath her as she straddled her right butt cheek. “God, that’s good” Ashlyn moaned and closed her eyes, enjoying the incredible sensation.

The keeper bent over her wife’s body, supporting herself with one arm on each side as she slid her sopping wet pussy up and back down Ali’s round, firm, perfect, bouncy ass cheek. Her clit was so sensitive already that it was easy to get a delicious jolt of pleasure every time she slid it back down to the bottom of the cheek. The hood at the top of her bundle of nerves acted like a brake, dragging through the spilled passion with just enough pressure to feel fabulous. Up and back she went, moaning and groaning as she began to move faster and press down harder. Ali did her best to stick her ass up high and provide as much resistance as possible. She gripped her wife’s forearm in front of her and held onto it, loving the connection. She looked back over her shoulder and watched Ashlyn’s face contort and twist as different levels of passion displayed there. It was a beautiful show if you knew enough to watch it. The keeper murmured and whimpered to herself as she got more and more worked up.

“Yes sexy, get it baby” Ali purred, trying to add her own sensual words to help her girl achieve her goal. “Fuck my ass...Mmmmm...” The sound of all of Ashlyn’s juices was hot as hell and Ali felt her own desire spark quickly back to life. “Goddamn Ashlyn...that’s fucking hot.” 

“Yeah it is” Ashlyn panted out, almost dizzy with lust. Her aching clit was getting more swollen with every trip up and down Ali’s ass. “You’re so fucking sexy baby...so fucking hot...Mmmmmm...fuck...”

For a fleeting moment, the keeper thought she might actually be able to come like that, just from rubbing and grinding against her wife’s glorious ass. But the orgasm she was chasing remained just out of reach. Ali watched carefully, wanting to make sure this was the good experience it was intended to be for her birthday girl.

“Touch your clit babe...” Ali instructed, her voice low and sultry, but urgent at the same time. “I wanna see you come up there. Show me how you touch yourself...”

The sensual words and the erotic delivery worked their magic and Ashlyn quickly responded. She felt everything in her body ratchet up a notch as she sat up and let her whole body weight rest on Ali’s ass. The brunette nodded at her when Ashlyn glanced up briefly, wanting to make sure she wasn’t hurting her. 

“That’s right...mmmmm...yesss...I love how wet you are baby. Show me what you do next” Ali moved the hand that had been connecting her to Ashlyn’s forearm down to the blonde’s knee. She wrapped her hand around it and squeezed to make sure her keeper knew she was right there with her. “Show me...”

Ashlyn tugged at her own nipples with one hand and rubbed her clit hard and fast with the other, all the while she kept rocking and grinding down into Ali’s ass and listening to the brunette say filthy things to her in a voice she knew nobody else on the planet had ever heard. That alone was almost enough to make her come right that second.

“I’m close...Mmmmm...”

“Come for me now. Show me how much you want me. Show me how horny you are for me. Show me the part of you that only I get to see...”

“Ali!!!!” the keeper shouted as her whole body went rigid for a second. 

Ali could feel her wife’s leg twitch beneath her hand as the orgasm hit her a second later. Ashlyn’s body bucked and flailed as she continued to rub her own clit through the first half of the orgasm. Her eyes slammed shut, her face twisted and her mouth dropped open as every part of her body shook. Ali couldn’t take her eyes off of the beautiful pink nipples that were so stiff and tall as they jiggled fast along with the rest of the keeper’s body.

“Yaasssss baby. Yaassss!” Ali encouraged and congratulated in the same throaty whisper as she enjoyed the show above her. “Fuck yes...”

“Oh my God Al...what did you do to me?” the keeper chuckled several minutes later as they curled up together on the small rug, both of them grateful for the heated tile floor that was keeping their naked bodies from getting too cold.

“I didn’t do a thing” the brunette giggled from her little spoon position, turning her head to receive a kiss from her wife now that the keeper could breathe again. “Never laid a finger on you.”

“That just goes to show you how fucking sexy you are” Ashlyn shook her head and let out a contented sigh.

“You’re just being sweet, but you don’t have to stop” Ali teased and pushed her ass back into her wife for good measure.

“Hey now, watch that thing” Ashlyn chuckled as she moved her hand to her wife’s backside, gently patting it as if she was trying to calm some savage beast. “It’s more powerful than you realize.”

“Ha ha, very funny” the brunette laughed.

“I’m not joking” Ashlyn kissed her wife’s bare shoulder as her hand continued to gently caress Ali’s butt. “It’s also pretty sticky right now...”

“Ha!” Ali laughed her short, loud shout of a laugh. “Good thing I have ‘take relaxing bath’ on our list of things to do this morning too” she grinned back at her wife.

“Really?” Ashlyn got up on her elbow and looked down into her wife’s warm cinnamon eyes. “We have time for that? You have time for that?”

“Ashlyn” Ali turned over onto her back and looked deep into her keeper’s eyes. “I’ve been waiting for this day for years. Of course I have time. We can do whatever you want babe. It doesn’t have to be a bath or more sex...it can be anything you want.”

“Anything?” Ashlyn’s eyebrows were up so high they made Ali nervous for a few seconds.

“What did you have in mind?”

The keeper paused and looked down, blushing just the slightest bit. Ali reached up and cupped her cheek, her voice was soft and sweet.

“Tell me honey, please.”

“Can I sketch you? Naked?” Ashlyn asked adorably and, for just a moment, Ali thought she looked like an innocent baby deer with her soft, expressive eyes. 

The brunette felt her heart melt at the sweet request. Hours-long nude sketches had been something that had disappeared from their lives when the kids had been born. Ali honestly hadn’t thought about the occasions she had spent sprawled out on the couch up in the studio or on their bed in a very long time. Suddenly, there was absolutely nothing the brunette wanted more. The fact that her wonderful Ashlyn had made such a simple but meaningful request shouldn’t have surprised her in the least. Ali blinked up at her love and gave her a nose-crinkling grin.

“Anything for my birthday girl.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo...I'm home from my long vacation weekend in Orlando. The Pride lost another frustrating game where half the team looked like it was only operating at half speed. Nobody should be surprised that the Pride aren't getting calls from the refs - Ali's callout after the Houston game isn't going to win them any preferential treatment any time soon. But Kriegs was right. Coach Skinner said that the league contacted the Pride and told them that the PK against Edmonds should never have been a PK in the first place. So fucking frustrating.  
> Anyway - the bad news is that the Pride are officially in last place in the league and I can't even believe that. The good news is that I got to see Ali Krieger live and in person on the pitch again. God I love that. Nothing's better than that. The incredibly amazing news is that I met her, shook her hand, got a picture with her and was able to thank her for being awesome. One of my friends made it happen (I'm shy and I like to hang out in the background) and Ali could not possibly have been any sweeter.


	15. Mike Christopher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a death in this chapter, extended family. Nothing too graphic or anything, but just in case somebody needs this warning.

The day after the Atlanta Fever defeated the Houston Dash to win the 2032 NWSL Championship, their first, the Kriegers got terrible news. 

“What?” Ali stood up in the middle of the stands at the BC vs Miami soccer game in Newton, MA. It was 2:15pm on Sunday, October 24th and the second half had just gotten under way. “I can’t hear you Ky...” she pushed a finger into her free ear and pressed the cellphone harder against her other ear.

“Who’s Mom talking to now?” Josie asked as she leaned around Ali’s standing form to watch the BC offense attack Miami’s stout defense. It would have to be an important call for Ali to answer in the middle of Meg’s game. “And why’s she standing up?” 

“Not sure” Ashlyn answered, shadowing her daughter’s lean and following the play on the pitch. The redhead sat between her two moms in the metal stands that were packed full that afternoon. “Oh! That was a great ball in!” she slapped her hand on her knee and groaned. “We’ve gotta get better finishing those crosses off. That was a wasted opportunity right there” she shook her head and sat back again, turning her attention to her frowning wife.

Ali slowly sat down, phone still to her ear, face very pale.

“Everything ok hon?” the keeper asked, starting to get concerned by the shocked look on the brunette’s face. She reached behind Josie and put her hand on Ali’s shoulder. “Al?”

The brunette mumbled something into the phone, ended the call, and let her hand and phone drop into her lap. Ali closed her eyes and Ashlyn thought she was going to burst into tears for a minute. But the brunette took a couple of deep breaths and took comfort from her wife’s hand, still on her shoulder. She turned to face her keeper with sad eyes.

“It’s Mike...” she paused, trying to keep her voice steady. “He...he had another heart attack.”

It had been a quick 2-minute phone call from Kyle but it had changed the trajectory of their lives and both siblings knew it. Mike Christopher had suffered another major heart attack, or STEMI to use the modern medical lingo. The STEMI from 2028 had been bad but uncomplicated and Mike had made a slow but good recovery. Now, 4-1/2 years later, the STEMI was even bigger and more serious. The angioplasty and stents last time seemed like small potatoes compared to the emergency, open-heart quadruple bypass surgery that was required this time. Mike’s prognosis after his second major heart attack in less than 5 years was not good. 

“20% of heart attack survivors suffer a second, more serious, and often deadly heart attack within 3 years if they don’t stick to the diet and exercise changes” Ashlyn read from her phone as she played with her wife’s brunette locks in her lap later that night. 

They were sitting on the family room couch in the quiet time between putting the kids to bed and then going to sleep themselves. Instead of chores and to-dos that night, they dropped their stressed-out bodies onto the couch and turned on the tv. Ali was laying on her side with her head in her keeper’s lap, trying to get her eyes to focus on the true crime show on the tv in front of her. She had already talked to her mother four times since Kyle’s call that afternoon and she felt awful not being in the Miami hospital with Deb that night. Ashlyn was trying to distract her wife and educate them both at the same time.

“But it’s been longer than 3 years” Ali countered quietly. “He beat that 20% statistic.”

“He did. You’re right” the keeper nodded and let her hand move down her wife’s side to pat her hip. “And he was pretty good with his diet and exercise, right?”

“Pretty good I guess, but not great. It’s always been a struggle for my mom” Ali sighed sadly. Her emotions were swirling, going from sadness to anger and frustration and then guilt and then back to worry in a matter of minutes. “God, I hope he pulls through this. I don’t want her to lose him...” she had to stop when her throat closed up as she fought off tears.

“Your mom’s gonna be ok honey” Ashlyn put her phone down and used both hands on her wife’s body, petting and caressing it to try and soothe her. “I mean, I know you’re worried about Mike, but you’re worried about your mom too. I get it.”

“What will she do without him?” the brunette whispered.

“Your mom will do alright either way Al. She’s strong. So strong. And whatever she needs, no matter what happens, we’ll be there for her. We’ll help her with whatever she needs.”

Kyle had flown down that afternoon to be there for Deb, and Mike’s daughter Lori was already in Miami too. Ali would be joining them tomorrow. Deb wasn’t alone and wouldn’t be for the next few days as Mike’s condition fluctuated.

“What if he doesn’t respond to the surgery? They said his heart was really badly damaged this time. Like, the surgery was a long shot and would only be successful if his heart was strong enough...”

“Shhhh...baby, you need to try and relax so you can get some sleep tonight” the keeper pulled some brunette hair away from Ali’s neck and untangled the delicate silver necklace that had gotten knotted into some of the locks. “There are a lot of questions and we’re not gonna get answers until Mike is ready to give them to us.”

“Being in the ICU isn’t good” Ali shook her head. “We know all these things from the last time...” she explained. “Open heart surgery is not good, the quadruple bypass is even worse, and the fact that he’s still in the ICU is terrible.”

“I know” Ashlyn sighed, resigned to let her wife get it out of her system after all. “It’s scary as hell and it doesn’t look good. None of it. But he might just need to rest some more” she suggested. “All we can do now is wait, and hope, and pray.”

Ashlyn checked in with her wife multiple times each of the four days Ali was in Miami with her brother and mother that week. Mike never made it out of the ICU. His heart stopped Friday morning, October 29th and there wasn’t anything anybody could do about it. The damage had been too extensive and his heart was too weak to pull off the victory this time. Deb and Lori were both by his side when the ventilator was unplugged. They understood that he didn’t want to live on a machine. He had been clear about it after his first heart attack and, as difficult as it had been to honor his wishes, his wife and daughter did just that.

Kyle, Ali, and Mike’s first wife Lorraine all sat in the nearby waiting room, wishing there was something they could do to ease the pain of the two women by the side of the bed. Deb and Lori had been taking care of Mike since his first heart attack and had become quite the team when it came to getting him to do what they knew was best for his health. Both Ali and Kyle had seen the duo in action, marveling at the way they knew how hard they could push Mike and cajole him to do his exercises or eat his healthy food. It was like a modified good cop / bad cop scenario where both wife and daughter walked the tightrope between the two extremes. Sometimes Deb was the bad guy, but it was usually Lori. The younger woman had far less patience for her father’s petulant objections to the diet and exercise he was supposed to be adhering to.

“Come on Dad, let’s go for that walk before it gets too hot” Lori would say to her father during one of her frequent visits to Miami. She would flash him a bright smile and he would sigh and then smile himself. He had always been a sucker for his daughter and Lori had always been a real Daddy’s girl. As they started the walk, the 32-year old would give him a side hug and tell him truthfully, “Thanks for doing the work so my future kids can meet their grandfather.”

Deb got just as frustrated with Mike as Lori did, but the difference was that Deb forgave him so much faster. She had been stricter with him, especially about the food he ate, right after his first heart attack. But her own stress levels had risen astronomically and she had been forced to rethink her approach. 

“I don’t want to be angry with him all the time” Deb tried to explain to her own kids after a full year of nagging her husband every minute of every day. “We’re both miserable” she shrugged as they sat in the sunny breakfast nook of her Manchester, MA condo late in the summer of 2029. “What’s the point of that?”

“The point is he needs to eat healthier and exercise more or he’s going to have another heart attack and die” Kyle spoke bluntly, his brow furrowed in frustration.

“Ky...” Ali quietly chastised him mostly for his tone. Their mother was upset enough to talk to them about her problem. Ali didn’t want her big-mouthed brother making her feel like she had made a mistake opening up to them.

“Well it’s true” he shook his head as he sat back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest with a scowl. “It’s not complicated” he muttered. “You wanna live? You gotta do these two things...”

“He has been eating better and he does exercise” Deb tried to explain but the sad look on her face revealed how worried she was about Kyle’s stark prediction. “I don’t know” she exhaled a forlorn breath. “I can’t do it for him. And I can’t make him want to do it. And I don’t want to ruin my own health worrying about it...”

“No, you definitely can’t do that” Ali reached across the table and took her mother’s hand. “We won’t let you do that.”

“No” Kyle’s face softened and he leaned forward too, adding his hand on top of his sister’s and mother’s. “You need to start taking care of yourself mom. And Mike’s gonna have to make his own decisions about how he wants the rest of his life to go.”

Ali shot him another hard look, wrinkling her face into a ‘what the fuck’ expression that her brother definitely didn’t miss.

“Oh I’ll be ok” Deb sighed again, missing the sibling interaction and deep in her own anxious thoughts.

“Yes you will be” Kyle continued after frowning back at his sister. “And we’re gonna make sure of it” he nodded and gave his mother a warm smile. “And hopefully Mike will take more responsibility and get better and outlive us all” he grinned. “That’s what I’m hoping for, more than anything else” he locked eyes with his mother who, for the first time in their conversation, had a small smile on her own face.

“Thank you honey” Deb sat up straighter and put her free hand on top of Kyle’s on the pile in the middle of the small table. “I hope so too.”

But Mike never really embraced either the new diet or the new exercise routine. He did eat better than he used to before his first heart attack just as he exercised more. But neither was good enough or up to the minimum recommendations from his doctors. He tried. He really did. But eating fatty food and smoking cigars while golfing with his buddies were vices he struggled to give up. Golfing was both good and bad for Mike Christopher and it would be hard to say if it bought him more time or cost him more time when it was all said and done. The physical exertion of golfing was good for him, especially if he walked the course. But, more often than not, he hopped into the golf cart with one of his foursome after three or four holes and rode the rest of the round. Couple that with the crappy food and beer and cigars that were part of almost every round of golf the retirees played, and the healthy diet and exercise regimen took a real hit. And it wasn’t just the club in Miami. When Mike was up in Manchester, MA he did the same thing at the golf course there. 

Lori nagged him loudly and often, while Deb’s protests were quieter and more subtle. She made sure there was always healthy food in the condo for him and tried to get him to do more active things with her instead of just golfing. Deb thought they had turned a corner last summer when she had her knee replaced. Mike often accompanied her on her twice daily walks and it was the first time she had been hopeful about his health in 3 years. And he did seem to get healthier last summer as a result. Lori used to joke with her stepmother that her knee replacement was the best thing that had ever happened to Mike. For the first time, he started showing his wife recipes that he thought might be good for them to try. Deb was elated. And that was how things had been for the past 16 months. Finally, after 3 years, Mike had embraced his new diet and exercise routine and had looked and felt stronger and healthier than ever.

“It’s just so unfair” Lori shook her head back at Mike and Deb’s Miami house that fateful Friday in October. “I mean, he’d been doing so good since last summer” she looked beseechingly at her stepmother to back up her claims.

“He had” Deb sighed from her place at the end of the couch, the one nearest the recliner where Mike always sat. “He really had” she nodded with a vacant look on her face. 

It had been a long week. Was that really all it had been? A week? The heart attack happened on Sunday and Kyle and Lori had both arrived late that night. Ali had flown down on Monday and the four of them had been at the hospital ever since. Lorraine and some of Deb’s friends from the club had stopped by to bring food and offer some distraction to the family as they waited and waited for Mike’s heart to respond to the surgery. The only thing worse than his heart finally failing him Friday morning, was the absence of Mike’s son, Donnie. Nobody could understand how he could stay away this time. Both his mother and sister had told him in no uncertain terms that the outlook was grim, that this heart attack wasn’t like the first one, that Donnie needed to come to Miami right away. But day after day went by and no Donnie. Ali knew how angry Lori had been with her brother for all 4-1/2 years since the first heart attack and completely agreed with her stepsister. It was unfathomable to her that a son would choose not to come to his father’s bedside, even after it became clear that it was going to be his deathbed. 

“Still no word from Don?” Kyle broached the subject that nobody wanted to talk about that Friday. He got another withering look from Ali and rolled his eyes. He was tired and stressed out too and he was only trying to be practical. “What? We need to know if he’s gonna be here for the services...” he plunged forward into the conversation that none of them wanted to have.

“Kyle...” Ali sighed, too tired to work her face into an appropriate frown.

“No, he’s right” Deb nodded slowly, still looking far away. “If he wants to have a voice in how we say goodbye then he needs to be here.” 

“Why bother now?” Lori’s words were quiet but sharp. “I don’t even want him here, at all.”

“You don’t mean that Lor” Deb gave her a small smile.

“I do though. I’m so mad at him...I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him for this.”

Nobody in the room disagreed but it felt wrong to say anything out loud. It was the type of situation where Lori could get away with saying it but Ali and Kyle would look petty and judgmental if they said the same thing. They were all family, but the Kriegers and the Christophers were still separate sets of siblings, no matter how close they had become over the years. Ali knew she would never forgive Lori for saying something so horrible about Kyle. There was no way she was opening her mouth at all on the subject of what an asshole Donnie Christopher was for basically opting out of the family over the past 5 or 6 years. They all thought he would come back home to spend some time with his father after the first heart attack, but he never had. He had made three short weekend visits in the past 4-1/2 years, but that was it. 

“I think your father forgave him” Deb offered simply. “I know he did. He was so proud of Don and everything he was doing at work. They talked a lot on the phone you know” she looked at Lori, then Ali, then Kyle. “And Donnie was coming for Christmas this year...”

“Yeah, just like he’s been saying for the past 5 years” Lori huffed. “He just tells Dad...” she stopped and swallowed hard before finishing her rant in a slightly more somber tone, “he told Dad whatever he wanted to hear. He’s a big baby who’s too afraid to tell his own father the truth.”

“Well he won’t have to worry about that anymore” Kyle’s eyebrows were up, surprised to hear just how upset Lori was with her own brother. He couldn’t blame her though. He just wasn’t as used to hearing her bitch about Donnie as Ali was. “But he’ll come for the funeral, won’t he?” he asked, looking from Lori to Deb and back. When nobody said anything Kyle dropped his head into his hands and spoke while rubbing his face. “God, please let him come home for the funeral. What the hell?”

Deb and Lori planned the funeral while Ali and Kyle and even Lorraine ran around getting things done to make it all happen according to plan. Ashlyn and Nathan and all 6 kids arrived in Miami on Monday morning, November 1st, full of stories about their Halloween activities. The wake was held Tuesday afternoon and evening and the funeral service and burial were the next day, Wednesday November 3rd. Meg was the only grandchild not in attendance and it was only because BC was competing in the ACC tournament that week. The 7th seeded Eagles upset 2nd seeded Florida State in Round 1 on Halloween and the redheaded starting goalkeeper was travelling back to Boston with her team. They had to get ready to face top-ranked Virginia on Friday evening that week and both Ashlyn and Ali told her to stay with her team.

“Grandpa Mike would want you to stay there and focus on the big game on Friday” Ashlyn tried to convince the remorseful college Junior. “Win that one and you’re playing in the Final on Sunday.”

“Yeah, but...I feel like I should be there” Meg admitted softly as she Facetimed the two moms on Monday afternoon. Ashlyn and the other kids had just arrived in Miami an hour earlier. 

“Of course we want you here too honey” Ali took her turn, giving the young woman a sympathetic smile. “And if you really want to be here then we’ll find a way to make it happen.” She paused, watching Meg chew her bottom lip, deep in thought. “But if you don’t really want to be here...”

“But I do” the redhead interrupted anxiously.

“Wait though, let me finish” Ali countered, still speaking softly and carefully. “If you don’t really want to be here, if you feel like you should be here but you don’t really want to be here then you should stay with the team. Do you understand the difference?”

There was a long pause before Ashlyn spoke again.

“It’s ok to want to stay with your team kiddo. It doesn’t make you a bad person, or a bad granddaughter, it makes you a great teammate.”

“Are you sure it’s ok if I’m not there?”

“Mike would rather have you crush Virginia, I have no doubt about it at all” Ali offered another small smile. “So don’t worry about us.”

“But what about Grandma?” Meg started to ask when Deb walked into the room with Lily and Cristina and overheard her name.

“What about Grandma?” Deb asked before grinning at Meg through Ashlyn’s phone.

Deb assured Meg that she should stay in Boston and prepare with her team. She left no doubt in the redhead’s mind and the conversation turned to several other topics with both young girls participating. Before anybody knew it, 40 minutes had gone by and everybody was laughing and giggling and smiling. It was easily the happiest Deb had been in over a week and she could feel her heart starting to repair itself. That was always the cure – love and laughter and who better to get that from than 3 of her beautiful granddaughters.

“So how’s your mom doing?” Ashlyn asked her wife later that night as they got changed into pajamas in the guest room. Lori was in her old bedroom, Kyle and Nathan were in Donnie’s old bedroom and all 6 kids were in the finished basement.

“Ok, I think” Ali shrugged. She was exhausted and not in the mood to talk. But she had missed her keeper so much over the week they had been apart that she would have stayed up and talked for hours if that’s what Ashlyn wanted to do. “She just seems kind of numb right now. I guess that’s good. I don’t know” she sighed.

“How’s Lori? Still pissed at Donnie or has that passed?” Ashlyn took the soft cotton pajama pants out of her wife’s hand and got down on her knees in front of her to help her get changed.

“Babe, I can...”

“I know you can, but I want to, so just let me” Ashlyn winked up at her beautiful brunette and started to pull down her joggers and panties. “You’ve been down here taking care of everybody else, I know you have. Now let me take care of you for a few days.” Ashlyn knew she had won when Ali leaned on her shoulder for balance and lifted a leg to allow her to undress her lower half. “Now tell me about Lori.”

“I hope Donnie doesn’t show up because I don’t think she’ll be able to control herself if he does.”

“Meaning what? She’s actually going to kill him this time? Don’t tease me now” the blonde joked. She had never been a big fan of Donnie Christopher.

“I don’t even know” Ali chuckled. “Nobody would blame her, that’s for sure.” 

She switched legs and stepped into the dark blue Penn State pajama pants, smiling at her thoughtful keeper for packing them. She hadn’t packed for a full week or a funeral when she flew to Miami 7 days ago. Ashlyn had brought a couple of outfits for her for the wake and funeral as well as some jammies and other casual clothes.

“And how are you my sweet sugarplum?” the keeper asked as she pulled the pajama pants up her wife’s legs and over her gorgeous butt until they rested just above her hips where Ali preferred them.

“I’m ok. I’m tired” Ali replied as she started to pull an oversized white Penn State t-shirt over her head.

“No, that one’s for me” Ashlyn tugged it out of her hand. “I brought you the Breakers one...”

“You’re gonna sleep in my Penn State t-shirt” Ali stated, looking down at her sweet keeper with a mixture of confusion and disbelief.

“I am” Ashlyn, still on her knees, removed her own bra and shirt and donned the white Penn State t-shirt in question. “Why? You got a problem with that?”

“Nope” Ali popped the p, quieter than normal because she was doing everything at half speed and half volume out of sheer exhaustion, and then chuckled. “I love it.”

Ashlyn wrapped both of her long arms around her wife’s waist and ass, pulling her in close for a hug. She turned her head to the side and pressed it into Ali’s stomach, loving the way the brunette began to fondle her head and play with her shaggy blonde hair. It wasn’t sexual, it was intimate. They hadn’t held each other in a week and they had both been feeling the absence acutely. Their afternoon had been full of the kids and getting Ali caught up on all of their activities, including Halloween, for the past week. They just wanted and needed to hold each other close for a while.

“Good” Ashlyn sighed happily as she melted into her wife’s body and touch. “God, I missed you so much” she whispered, turning her head to press a kiss into her wife’s belly before returning to the hug and squeezing her even tighter.

“I can tell” Ali laughed softly. “You’re gonna sleep in Penn State gear...this is serious now” she smiled down and felt better than she had in 7 days. “I missed you too, so freaking much babe” she added before Ashlyn could react to the teasing. “Thank you for being so awesome this week. I don’t know how you did it...”

“I accepted lots of help and that may or may not mean that we owe several hours of kid-duty to about 8 different people...” she laughed as she stood up and gave Ali a proper hug.

“I don’t care. Whatever you did is fine hon, really. You’re all here now and everybody looks clean and happy and healthy. I don’t care what you had to do” the brunette tucked her face into Ashlyn’s neck, breathing in her scent as deeply as possible.

“Wait, where’s my phone” the keeper looked around the room. “I’m gonna need you to repeat that once I find my phone so I can record it...”

“Ha ha, very funny” Ali giggled with a playful swat to her wife’s bicep. “Let’s go to bed, can we get into bed now, please?”

“Whatever you want my queen” Ashlyn walked them over to Ali’s side of the bed and tucked her wife in, noticing how difficult it was becoming for the brunette to keep her eyes open.

“Hey, you don’t even have all your jammies on yet” Ali caught sight of her wife’s lower half as Ashlyn began to pull away from the bed to go around to her side. “That shirt really messing you up huh?” she grinned and rolled over to follow her wife’s progress to the foot of the bed.

“No, not at all” Ashlyn pretended to be offended by the remark as she quickly took her pants and underwear off before stepping into a pair of sleep shorts. “I was busy getting somebody else into their jammies if I recall correctly” she winked at Ali.

“Oh yeah. That was me” she yawned and pulled the covers down so Ashlyn could get it. “Hurry up, I need you in this bed right now...”

“Yes ma’am” Ashlyn set an alarm on her phone, put it and her glasses on the nightstand and climbed into bed. “Do you wanna spoon or do you want my side?”

“I want both” Ali stuck her bottom lip out in a pout that her keeper found adorable.

“I’m good, but I’m not that good” Ashlyn chuckled. “Pick one, let’s go, my queen is tired and needs her sleep.”

Ali was truly flummoxed. She wanted to feel Ashlyn’s arms wrapped around her from behind and be the little spoon, but she also wanted to hold onto her wife tightly too. After some tossing and turning they settled on hugging each other face to face with their legs entwined and foreheads touching, bodies close together. They spent another ten minutes talking about random, inconsequential things from their separate weeks until they were both fast asleep. The last thing Ali remembered, besides an overwhelming feeling of love and safety and peace, was Ashlyn’s soft, warm lips on her forehead.

Tuesday morning started with a bang when Donnie showed up at the house, unannounced, at 9am. He had spent the night at Lorraine’s house without even letting his sister know he had arrived. Morning chaos was in full swing with 6 kids aged 9 to 13 doing their various things to start their day. The kitchen was busy with Ashlyn and Deb making big breakfasts for everybody that wanted one. The first visitation or wake session wasn’t until 4pm that afternoon and the family was just playing the day by ear until then. There would be a short dinner break at 6pm and then the final visitation or wake hours started at 7pm. Lori, Ali, and Nathan were in the living room divvying up the final list of errands to be run and Kyle was on the phone with the florist trying to straighten out a snafu that had just come to their attention 5 minutes earlier.

“Well, look who decided to join us” Lori’s face hardened as she looked up to see her brother walk into the room. He had avoided the cacophonous kitchen altogether and moved right into the living room. Lori couldn’t keep the look of disgust from her face as she shook her head and closed her eyes, fighting to keep her cool. “Oh wait, are you just here to tell us you can’t stay for the wake or the services tomorrow?” her words dripped with snark as she rolled her eyes. “Save your breath. Nobody cares anymore big brother.”

Ali and Nathan sat stock still, one on either side of the grieving young woman, and Kyle quietly took his phone call out the sliding door to the back patio with wide eyes. Donnie clenched his jaw as he stood there looking like the young Republican he was. His pressed chinos and crisp dress shirt, worn with two buttons open at his neck and no tie, were the casual look he sported when he wasn’t in a full business suit and tie. He was 33 years old and in surprisingly good shape for someone who supposedly worked every minute of every day. He was average looking but the slight condescension that colored his face made him less attractive to most people than he might otherwise have been. Donnie had always enjoyed a friendly, easy relationship with both Kyle and Ali Krieger, but his absence from family gatherings since graduating college had made it difficult to maintain that ease or friendship. What irked both Krieger siblings, and their spouses, more than anything was the way their stepbrother had so easily written their mother out of his life. Even the way he made his entrance today was rude and inconsiderate to Deb. He had seen and heard her in the kitchen but chose to pass her by.

“Ah, found the drama in 10 seconds flat. Good to see you too Lor” Donnie grinned. It was almost like he didn’t understand the shaky ground he was on in his present company. Or maybe he honestly didn’t give a damn what they thought of him anymore. “Hi everybody” he nodded and seemed confused that people weren’t getting up to greet him.

“I thought I heard your voice” Deb came out of the kitchen with a weary smile on her face, hastily drying her hands on a dishtowel. She hugged Donnie and kissed his cheek as she had done since she first met him at age 8. “Did you just get in? We weren’t sure what your schedule was...” she spoke as she pulled back from the hug with a relieved, genuine smile on her face.

“Uh, no, I got in last night...”

“Oh” Deb’s face registered surprise.

“I stayed at mom’s” he offered without apology. “She says to let her know if you need anything today, before the wake.”

“I can’t believe you” Lori glared at her brother as she brushed past him on her way upstairs. 

They all looked at each other when they heard her bedroom door slam a few seconds later.

“So what are the plans?” Donnie asked without skipping a beat. “I thought I could read...”

Ali felt her anger rise up as she opened her mouth to tell Donnie to go to hell. But before she got a chance to, Kyle closed the sliding door behind him as he returned to the room with a scowl on his face. He had observed and heard most of the interaction as he had been on hold just outside the door and he was pissed off too.

“Well think again Don” he walked to the middle of the room and folded his arms across his chest, striking a formidable pose. “All the plans are made. All the tough decisions have been agonized over. All that’s left to do now is to show up and be there for each other” he spoke the words clearly and evenly without any warmth, which was unusual to hear from Kyle Krieger, ever. “But I think you know that and that’s why you’re here now.”

“Listen Kyle...” Donnie started to try and soothe his stepbrother who was 15 years his senior. Donnie had always judged Kyle for his flamboyance and perceived weakness, but he knew the older man could kick his ass if it came right down to it and the newcomer had no desire for that.

“No you listen” Kyle cut him off as Deb, Ali, and Nathan watched with their mouths open in surprise. “Your sister is crushed. Your father’s wife is crushed. We’ve all worked hard getting things ready for today and tomorrow and you’re not gonna come in here at the last minute and change one damned thing. Do you understand me?” Kyle paused for effect. “You’re not reading anything. You’re not gonna be a pallbearer. You’re not handing out programs. You’re not doing anything. You can’t be bothered to come visit your own father or be there for your sister or stepmom when things are the hardest for them? You can’t even let them know if you’re even gonna show up today?!” his voice rose as his fury did. They all knew the kids could hear his words if they were interested, and most of them were. “You’re lucky I don’t throw you out of this house right now.”

“Why don’t you?” Donnie couldn’t help but challenge, but it sounded like he was genuinely curious about the answer instead of just being a dick.

“Because Lori loves you and needs you, you selfish asshole” Kyle pointed towards the stairs she had just climbed to escape her problematic brother. “If you wanna stay you need to go up there and try and make things right with her, FOR HER” he clarified. “If she wants you to stay, then you can stay.” 

There was a tense minute as Donnie stood there feeling the weight of all those eyes on him. Ali really thought he was going to turn around and walk out the door. But he set his jaw, nodded once, still looking defiant, and went up the stairs to find his sister.

“I’m glad you’re here Don” Deb called softly after him and he turned and gave her a warm smile halfway up the stairs.

The wake itself was tiring but heartwarming at the same time. Meeting and talking to people who had been close to Mike during his life and listening to their stories of time spent with him was a blessing and a challenge. Lori had allowed her brother to stay and participate and he had done what he always did – acted like he ran the joint. Part of it was societal expectations, to be honest. People saw him as the man of the family and went to him first, even though he had the least knowledge of Mike’s last few years of all of them. It irked those who had been there and put the time in with Mike while he had still been alive, but, at the same time, it was a relief to not have to play that part. If Donnie wanted to pretend to be the host with the most and shake everybody’s hands and try to handle introductions and all of those stressful things that became even more difficult when you were exhausted and grieving, then have at it.

“You sure you’re ok with him” Ali asked after the first half hour of the visitation, nodding towards Donnie and rolling her eyes. “Kyle will take care of him...”

“Nah, let him do it. I don’t care anymore” Lori shrugged, her eyes red from the constant barrage of tears and emotions as she talked to her father’s long-time friends and co-workers. “I don’t think I could do it without bawling my eyes out anyway” she sighed and gave Ali a weary smile. “How’s your mom doing?”

“She’s ok” they both turned to look at Deb who was talking with some of Mike’s friends from the club. “I’m waiting for her to fall apart but so far...she seems ok.”

“She’s a strong lady” Lori smiled again. “I hope...” she stopped, overcome by a strong wave of sadness that took her breath away.

Ali gave her a hug and some encouraging words to try and get the younger woman through the rest of the day. When Lori had regained control of her words a minute later she whispered them over Ali’s shoulder as they hugged.

“I hope she’ll still want to be in my life...I really love her a lot, you know?”

The idea that Deb would remove herself from the lives of either of her stepchildren just because Mike had passed away was so foreign to Ali that she had to replay her stepsister’s words in her head before answering as they pulled apart.

“What? Lori, I know everything’s...weird and crazy right now” she held the younger woman with one hand on each arm as their eyes locked on each other. “But good luck if you think you’re ever getting rid of her” she chuckled and bit her lip to try and keep her own emotions at bay while she reassured her stepsister. “Believe me, there’s no escape. She loves you. She’s loved you since you were 6. You’re in for life sis.”

“Good” Lori smiled and looked so relieved that Ali’s heart broke. “Good” she repeated with a nod.

“And whatever happens...” Ali continued after a brief pause, “you know you’re always welcome whether it’s here in Miami or up in Gloucester or in Satellite Beach, or New York...”

“I know, I know” Lori wiped her tears and smiled bashfully. “You and Kyle have always been so great. I love you guys too, a lot.” She took a deep breath. “Dad did too you know. I don’t really know how much he ever told you guys, but he really loved both you and Kyle...and Ash and Nate. He was always telling me what was going on with you guys. He was always so proud of you and the kids.”

“Aw, you’re gonna make me cry now” Ali sniffled as Lori’s words went straight to her own grieving heart.

She had never felt that close to Mike but most of that was because he wasn’t that type of a guy. He was a lot like her own father in that regard. They weren’t always comfortable expressing their love in words. Part of it was a guy thing and part of it was a generational thing. Either way, there were many times when Dads left their kids wondering how they truly felt about them. Mike had been closest with Nathan because of their shared chess habit. He and Ali had grown close on the golf course but that bond had weakened over the years as the busy mom took fewer Miami vacations and spent less time on the golf course. Additionally, Ali had always felt the leftover hurt she had inadvertently caused between Deb and Mike when Drew was born. Deb’s first baby grandchild had created a problem in her marriage that had taken some work for she and Mike to overcome. Ali always felt guilty about that and probably always would. To hear Lori telling her now that Mike had really loved Deb’s kids and grandkids was unexpected, but exactly what Ali needed to hear.

The rest of the wake went as smoothly as could be expected. Mike and Deb had wonderful friends and they were all eager to express their heartfelt condolences to the family. Everybody was happy to see the kids and their growth and maturation was the topic of much of the conversation. Ashlyn, Ali, Nathan, and Kyle were all touched to hear Mike’s friends talk about their children in details that meant Grandpa Mike had spent a lot of time discussing the youngest Krieger generation. One of the most touching moments of the whole 5-hour affair came when Ashlyn found Lily and Cristina peeking behind the curtains in the empty visitation room next to the one Mike’s casket was occupying.

“What are you ladies up to?” the keeper asked quietly as she snuck up behind them, trying to hear what they were saying.

They both whipped around, guilty looks on their 9- and 10-year old faces. Ashlyn crouched down in front of them, both looking very pretty in their dark, muted dresses and shiny shoes. It wasn’t until she gave them a reassuring smile that they looked at each other and confessed.

“Um, well...we’re looking for Grandpa Mike” Lily replied shyly.

“You are huh” Ashlyn nodded thoughtfully, trying to figure out what the hell her daughter was talking about. 

They had talked at length with all the kids about Grandpa Mike’s death. Edgar had some vivid memories of his own grandfather’s funeral and that had been difficult to navigate but they had managed, as a family. Cristina didn’t remember it at all.

“You remember Grandpa Mike...died, right? We talked about it. His body is in the other room and he’s in heaven now...”

“But they said he was still here” Cristina countered, frowning in confusion.

“Who did?” Ashlyn reached out and took her niece’s hand, giving it a soft squeeze. The girls looked around to try and point out one of the handful of strangers who had given them the same reassuring story. “What did they say?” the keeper changed her approach.

“They said not to be sad...” Lily started.

“And that Grandpa Mike was still here with us...” Cristina added.

“In spirit?” Ashlyn supplied the rest of the familiar phrase that she herself had heard several people repeat that afternoon and evening. “Is that what they said?”

“Yeah.”  
“Ah-huh”

Ashlyn gave them both a hug and a smile as she tried to explain that they didn’t mean that Grandpa Mike was literally and physically still here. It wasn’t an easy conversation and the keeper felt bad for the confusion the girls were struggling with. She hadn’t thought about what those words sounded like to 9- and 10-year olds. No wonder they were looking for Grandpa Mike. The sweet innocence of the situation made Ashlyn’s heart ache as she talked for a long time with the girls to make sure they understood.

When it was all said and done and the eulogies had been delivered and the flowers laid on the casket at the cemetery the next day, the whole family group was relieved and incredibly sad. The kids were getting older and starting to understand more of the nuances surrounding death. They had questions and seemed ready to handle the answers, sometimes. Other times they behaved like immature children, unable to understand anything about what happened when people died. Like Lily and Christina looking for Grandpa Mike at the wake. They were kids, being kids. Drew and Edgar understood more than the others in part because they were 12 and 13 years old. But also because Mike had spent more time with them than the other grandkids. There was a similarity especially between Mike and Drew. They were both quiet and reserved and loved baseball. Edgar had lost his third grandfather already in his short life and he took Mike’s death the hardest of them all. 

Deb, wise and wonderful grandma that she was, went out of her way to talk to both older boys about Grandpa Mike those few days they were all together. She knew their parents were on top of the death and grieving part of the experience they were all going through. Deb wanted to make sure the boys knew how much her husband had loved them and admired them. She spent time with each boy and told them stories about Grandpa Mike bragging about them to his friends at the club and at the condo up in Manchester. She knew her husband wasn’t great about letting the people he loved know how much he cared, so she tried to fill the gap. It was an incredible gift that the boys wouldn’t truly appreciate until they were much older. But they both walked a little taller after their time in Miami that Fall and it was due in large part to two of the best grandparents in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's go Pride!!!  
> I'm terrified of the game tonight. Hopefully they haven't checked out for the season already. Edmonds on the backline kills me every time but with Julie King hurt she's probably all we've got. Maybe my purple loves will surprise me though. You just never know.


	16. Conversations

November got off to a hectic start, beginning with Mike Christopher’s funeral and running right into Meg’s ACC Tournament which was closely followed by BC’s appearance in the College Cup the next week. Ali and Ashlyn’s barely-controlled chaos of family life with four busy, younger kids was dangerously close to jumping the rails that month and everyone could feel it. Meg had stayed in Boston to prepare for the 2nd round ACC tournament game against #1 ranked Virginia, as planned. Ashlyn and Ali flew back home to Boston with the kids on Thursday, the same day that BC travelled down to Virginia for the Friday game on November 5th. Kyle and Nathan and their kids stayed in Miami with Deb for the rest of the week, returning to NYC on Sunday at Deb’s insistence. The grieving widow argued that she would be coming up to Gloucester for Thanksgiving in another week anyway. She and Mike had gotten in the habit of spending at least a week in their Manchester condo before Thanksgiving Day and Deb had no plans to change that this year. She was looking forward to a little quiet time by herself, with her thoughts and fears and nebulous future. But she knew she’d be ready to spend some quality time with her grandkids soon thereafter. There was nothing like youth and the next generation to help you move forward with your life, no matter how sad you were.

BC lost the big Virginia game, ultimately finishing 3rd in the tournament of the 8 conference teams after winning the consolation game on Sunday. BC upset 3rd ranked UNC and Ashlyn had never been prouder, despite the Tarheel part of her heart that broke that day. Meg took some comfort knowing that they had been beaten by the ACC Champions that season when Virginia went on to defeat Clemson for the ACC Tournament title later that same day. The BC team was playing some of its best soccer in a very long time and hopes and expectations were high for their College Cup appearance. They continued to play well for the next three weeks, winning their first-round game against Princeton, their second-round game against NC State, and their third-round game against Colorado. They had made it to the Elite 8 of the prestigious College Cup, which meant they were one of the last 8 teams still alive in the tournament that had begun with 64 teams. If they could win the Quarterfinal game, the Elite 8 round, they would make it to the Final Four. But winning that Quarterfinal game, played on Friday November 26th, the day after Thanksgiving, would prove to be too tall a task for the upstart BC Eagles. It was just their luck that they faced UNC again and the Tarheels had not forgotten their last meeting with BC a few weeks earlier in the ACC consolation game. 

“There she is” Ashlyn grinned from ear to ear when the tall, lanky redhead walked through the mudroom door on Sunday morning of Thanksgiving weekend. “Come here” she wrapped Meg up in a big hug and squeezed her tight for a long couple of minutes, whispering in her ear. “I’m so proud of you honey. So damned proud.”

They were joined by most of the kids and dogs, and Ali finally came in and pulled Meg into the large kitchen where they could all greet her and love her up right. Ken and Vicki had hosted Thanksgiving that year but everybody had gathered at the big old house that Sunday to welcome Meg home and celebrate her triumphant season. She had become the starter and played very well all year long. The team hadn’t won their tournaments, but they had shown well and opened a lot of eyes to the talent and heart they had going on at Boston College. There was much to celebrate and the whole family was in the mood to do just that. The visiting extended family got to spend some time with Meg before they flew back to Florida and drove back to NYC that afternoon. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do.

“I’m so sorry Grandma” Meg finally got to hug Deb later in the day and tell her in person what she had said to her over the phone and written to her in a series of texts earlier that month. “I’m sorry...”

“Shhhh...I know baby girl, I know” Deb soothed and held the 20-year old young woman close. “If he was here right now he’d be so proud of you” she put her hands on her granddaughter’s cheeks and smiled as she blinked back tears. “He loved you very much and I know he wanted you to play that Virginia game. I know he did” she nodded, assuaging the guilt Meg had been carrying in her heart all month long. “And I don’t want you to be sorry about anything, ok?” she asked, still holding the redhead’s face in her hands.

“I love you” Meg sniffled. “And I’m here, for whatever you need...anything...I mean it.”

“I know you do honey, thank you” they hugged again. “I love you too.”

It turned out to be one of the most relaxed, pleasant days anybody could remember. The holiday weekend meant there were no sports or play or music activities to shuttle the kids to. Most of the Christmas decorations had already gone up the day before but there were still lots of small Christmas-y things to set up around the house and Meg loved helping with that. She had missed so many holidays up in Massachusetts over the years that it still felt special to be able to participate fully for the third year in a row. As the day wore on more people went home until it was only the Kriegers who lived there, Deb, Sandi Leroux, and the Dwyers left in the big old house. Everybody was spread out, doing their own things as usual. Many of the kids were in the basement playing video games with Dom and Sandi. Big kids Cassius, 15, and Drew, 13-1/2, were upstairs in the front living room watching soccer, texting their friends, and being too cool to hang with the younger kids and their childish games. Ali and Syd were up in the 3rd floor attic storage space looking for some Christmas decorations that hadn’t been in the regular storage bins yesterday as expected. Meg and Deb were cuddled up together on the family room couch, with Logan at their feet, watching a Hitchcock movie that happened to be airing on tv. And Ashlyn and Lily were working on some training with young, 5-month old puppy Frankie in the kitchen.

“Oooh, ‘Vertigo’” Deb’s eyes flashed as she recognized Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart on the tv. “Go back.”

Meg obliged and let her grandmother give her a bit of background on the movie that was about halfway over. The young woman had always meant to watch the Hitchcock films with her stepmothers, but it just hadn’t happened yet. It was wonderful to be snuggled up next to Deb on the family room couch, legs stretched out on the coffee table in front of them under a soft blanket. Logan was snoring on the floor beneath their legs. The redhead hadn’t felt so comfy and cozy in a long time. A big reason for that, she knew, was because of her grandmother’s warm, loving presence – even in her grief. As the movie ended the two women began talking, relishing in the closeness they felt.

“So...how are you doing?” Meg asked tentatively after 5 minutes of more casual conversation. “I know you’re tired of everybody asking you that” she added quickly, “but I really want to know, if you’ll tell me.”

“Oh sweetheart” Deb patted Meg’s leg beneath the blanket and smiled tenderly. “I really am doing ok. I promise” she smiled again. She could see that the redhead wasn’t going to give up though. Deb sighed but only because the topic was heavy, not in frustration with her granddaughter. “I have my good days and my bad days” she tried to explain what it felt like to lose someone she loved, someone she planned every day with and for and around. “Sometimes I start talking to him like he’s just in the next room” she chuckled softly, “and then I remember he’s...gone.”

“Aw Grandma...” Meg’s voice cracked as her face crumbled in sadness.

“It’s sad” Deb nodded as her bottom lip quivered. “I miss him. I still can’t believe he’s gone sometimes. And I won’t ever see him again.”

“How do you do it? How do you keep going?”

The innocence of the question struck Deb and made her remember how young 20 still could be sometimes. The truth of the matter, if she was really being honest, was that her cousin Diana’s death had hit Deb harder than Mike’s was hitting her. At least, that’s how it felt after one month without him. It wasn’t that she didn’t love Mike, because she really truly had loved him with all of her heart. It was more that Diana’s death had been to the dreaded ovarian cancer that lurked in the genes of so many people she loved. That ominous disease added an extra layer of...something... to Deb’s grief for her cousin. The two deaths so close together were difficult for her to handle though.

“Well, you just do” Deb shrugged. “It’s so hard to explain honey, but you just wake up every morning and you thank God you’re alive. And then you take it from there.”

“But, aren’t you sad all the time?” Meg tried hard to understand, creasing her brow and studying her grandmother’s face and body language as they talked. “I just can’t imagine how hard it must be. Is it hard to be in the house by yourself? Or the condo?”

“The best way I’ve ever heard it described is like you’re in the ocean after a shipwreck. I read this on Facebook once and it’s really good. When the ship is first wrecked, you’re drowning, with wreckage all around you. Everything floating around you reminds you of the beauty and the magnificence of the ship that was, and is no more. And all you can do is float. You find some piece of the wreckage and you hang on for a while. Maybe it’s some physical thing. Maybe it’s a happy memory or a photograph. Maybe it’s a person who is also floating. For a while, all you can do is float. Stay alive. In the beginning, the waves are 100 feet tall and crash over you without mercy. They come 10 seconds apart and don’t even give you time to catch your breath. All you can do is hang on and float. After a while, maybe weeks, maybe months, you’ll find the waves are still 100 feet tall, but they come further apart. When they come, they still crash all over you and wipe you out. But in between, you can breathe, you can function. You never know what’s going to trigger the grief. It might be a song, a picture, a street intersection, the smell of a cup of coffee. It can be just about anything...and the wave comes crashing. But in between waves, there is life. Somewhere down the line, and it’s different for everybody, you find that the waves are only 80 feet tall. Or 50 feet tall. And while they still come, they come further apart. You can see them coming. An anniversary, a birthday, or Christmas, or landing at the airport. You can see it coming, for the most part, and prepare yourself. And when it washes over you, you know that somehow you will, again, come out the other side. Soaking wet, sputtering, still hanging on to some tiny piece of the wreckage, but you’ll come out. The waves never stop coming, and somehow you don’t really want them to. But you learn that you’ll survive them. And other waves will come. And you’ll survive them too.”

Meg’s face was beautiful and serene as the young woman processed everything the wiser, older woman had just shared with her. They were both quiet for a long moment before the redhead finally found her voice.

“It’s hard right now because the waves are still so big and it’s Thanksgiving, isn’t it?”

“MmmmHmmm” Deb nodded. “But being here with everybody, spending time with all you kids, it makes it so much easier to hang on, to keep floating” she gave her granddaughter a watery smile, fighting back tears.

Meg couldn’t stand it anymore. She turned her body and gave Deb a big hug that went on for a couple of minutes.

“I think you should stay up here, with us” she sniffled as they finally pulled apart. “Do you have to go back to Miami?”

“Oh I haven’t decided what I want to do just yet baby girl. But I will. I’ll figure it out soon.”

“If you stay up here I can come see you all the time...”

“Ok, now listen” Deb fixed the redhead with a serious look. “I don’t want you changing your life around because I’m sad right now. Do you hear me?”

“Yeah, but...”

“No buts” she shook her head and smiled softly. “I mean it. I would love to see you Meggie, always. And if you tell me when you’re coming home I’ll make sure to be here. But I don’t want you making special trips up here to check on me. You have too many other things you should be doing.” They stared at each other for several seconds. “Besides, your moms are already doing all of that anyway” she chuckled again and playfully rolled her eyes. 

They both laughed and then Logan got up looking for some pats. They loved her up and made room for her on the end of the couch, joking about how enormous she had gotten now that she was full-grown.

“So how are things with Mr. Charlie” Deb winked, which made Meg blush.

“Good” she nodded bashfully. “He’s good.”

“So are we officially dating now or still pretending to be ‘just friends’?” Deb laughed. “Or what’s it called again...” she paused and squinted as she tried to get it right, “friends with benefits?” she wagged her eyebrows and laughed again. 

“Grandma!” Meg’s eyes went wide and she turned beet red in embarrassment. “We’re friends and we go on dates” she shrugged, still mortified. “I don’t know.”

“Ok, ok” Deb chuckled. “Well, I like him. From what I’ve seen of him. He’s very handsome. Nice and tall and good-looking” she nodded approvingly.

“Yeah, I guess” Meg sighed, and then giggled.

“And he treats you well? He’s kind and he pays attention to you when you talk? He lets you be yourself when you’re with friends?”

“Yes, of course” Meg frowned, confused by the idea that sometimes that didn’t always happen for everybody. “He’s a really good guy. I promise.”

“Well good” Deb nodded again, a bit of the twinkle back in her eye. “Nothing better for my sad old heart than to hear about your young one” she grinned. “I want to see some more of Mr. Charlie, as long as you do, that is...”

“Yeah, I like him” she shrugged again. “Ok, I’ll bring him up sometime.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Ashlyn and Lily were holding tiny little training treats between their fingers and walking Frankie through a series of commands.

“Sit” Lily used her steadiest voice and spoke clearly, lifting her hand, palm up, to show the puppy the visual cue that went with the command. 

Ashlyn grinned when Frankie sat her little black butt down on the kitchen floor, the dog yawning at the same time from the 30-minute workout she’d been doing.

“Now praise her” the keeper encouraged. “When she does what you ask her to do, you always have to praise her. That’s what keeps her wanting to do what we ask her to. That’s the trick.”

“I thought it was the treat?”

“Well, it’s the treat too. You’re right, but we’re not always going to have a treat to give her are we? We have to reward her some other way too.”

“Good girl!” Lily praised the puppy and bent over to give her one tiny treat which Frankie eagerly inhaled.

“Ok, I think that’s enough training for now. She’s getting tired and we want the training to be fun for her.”

9-1/2 year old Lily plopped herself down right in front of the 25-pound puppy and welcomed her into her arms. Ashlyn cringed at the missing command to release Frankie from the sit position but let it go. Training puppies with kids was a lot harder than training puppies without kids. No doubt. Frankie was turning out to be much more willful than Logan had been. Logan had been all too happy to please her masters, no matter the size of the commander. But Frankie was going to be a challenge and both moms knew it. She was almost too smart for her own good and would always be tempted to do her own thing, regardless of what her humans instructed.

“Mama, I need to tell you something” Lily stated as she nimbly kept her fingers out of the puppy’s mouth full of sharp teeth. Frankie was laying on her back in Lily’s lap, trying to bite the girl’s fingers as she playfully poked at her two front paws.

“Ok...” Ashlyn replied without too much concern as she joined the girl on the floor with a grunt. 

Her youngest daughter had been making statements of that nature ever since she could first put sentences together. What typically followed was some mundane announcement about one of her gazillion stuffed animals, or maybe one of the plentiful oddities she had collected in her shoeboxes under her bed. The news bulletin was never very consequential and almost always cute if not flat out hysterical.

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I really need you and Mommy to know that I’m a vegetarian now” she announced without taking her eyes off the puppy in her lap, giggling as Frankie made her own adorable growl of frustration when she missed Lily’s fingers again.

“Oh” Ashlyn’s face registered surprise but she tried not to let her voice give her away. “Ok. Well, thank you for letting me know. I appreciate that.”

They played with the puppy’s paws for a few minutes before Lily spoke again.

“Are you mad because I’m a vegetarian now?”

“No I’m not mad. Why would I be mad?”

“I don’t know” the girl shrugged and looked at her mother carefully. “Because maybe you feel bad that you’re not a vegetarian?”

“Do you want me to be mad? Are you trying to find me a reason to be upset about it?” she asked patiently, genuinely curious about where Lily was coming from.

“No. I was just asking” she shrugged again.

“Do you know what it means to be a vegetarian?” Ashlyn asked the million dollar question, the question she wasn’t sure her daughter was going to have the right answer for.

“Yep” Lily nodded and laughed as Frankie got to her feet and promptly tripped over them.

“Can you tell me what you think it means?”

“It means I don’t eat animals.”

“Ok, so what do you eat then if you’re a vegetarian.”

“Mama” Lily turned to look at the keeper and gave her a carbon copy of one of Ali and Josie’s withering stares. “I AM a vegetarian.”

“Right, sorry. So what do you eat now that you’re a vegetarian?” she tried not to chuckle as she rephrased the question. 

“I can eat everything that’s not an animal” she shrugged again, as if it was the simplest answer in the world.

“Ok, that makes good sense” Ashlyn did laugh this time but was careful to praise the girl so she didn’t feel like she was being ridiculed. “That’s a good answer honey. I can tell you’ve been thinking a lot about this. But what does that really mean? What are you going to eat for dinner tonight? I’m about to start getting it ready for you guys and I’ll need to know.”

“Ummm...I’m not really sure, but it can’t be an animal, like a cow or a pig or a chicken...”

“No chicken huh, well there go your chicken nuggets” Ashlyn raised her eyebrows. She wasn’t trying to talk Lily out of her decision but she also wasn’t convinced the girl realized the impact of that decision.

“That’s ok. I can eat something else.”

“Like tofu?”

“What’s tofu?”

Ashlyn took a second to try to find an example that would make sense to her daughter.

“You know that soup that Mom and I get from the Japanese place, with the leaves in it and the little white squares...?”

“Ah-huh” Lily nodded, still not getting where Ashlyn was going.

“Those little white squares in the soup are tofu.”

“Eww, those squishy things that don’t taste good? That’s tofu?” the girl looked disgusted and mildly alarmed.

“MmmmHmmm, but it comes in lots of different ways. That’s just one way that I know you’ve seen and tasted before.” She paused before continuing, pleased to see the girl thinking hard about the new information she had been given. “No more hotdogs either. Those are made from meat.”

“They are?” the innocence in Lily’s beautiful hazel eyes, the ones that still made Ashlyn think of Gram every time, almost took the keeper’s breath away.

“They are” Ashlyn confirmed solemnly.

“What animal do hotdogs come from?”

“Umm, some are beef so a cow, and some are pork, so a pig.” She paused again to let that sink in. “How do you feel about eating eggs and dairy – like cheese and milk?”

“They don’t come from an animal” Lily scoffed, thinking maybe her mama was trying to tease or trick her. “Come on Mama.”

“Well, technically they do. And some vegetarians are stricter about it than others, so they don’t eat eggs or dairy either. But some vegetarians do eat them so it really depends on what kind of vegetarian you are.”

“There are different kinds of vegetarians?” the girl looked shocked.

“Sure. It all depends on why you’re doing it. Some people do it for religious reasons and have certain rules they follow about what they can and can’t eat. Remember we looked up what kosher meant for your dill pickles?”

Lily was their pickle girl. She loved dill pickles like most kids loved candy and had asked what kosher meant one day so Ashlyn had looked it up on the iPad with her.

“Oh yeah” she nodded, the experience ringing a bell in her fast-working brain. “That’s for Jewish people, right?”

“Right. It’s food that is prepared according to Jewish law” the keeper confirmed. “So some religions have beliefs about what you can eat and that’s how some vegetarians start.”

“I can still eat pickles if I’m vegetarian, right?” Lily looked the most concerned about this potential drawback so far.

“Definitely. No problem with pickles at all. We grow those in the garden so we know they don’t come from an animal.” 

They watched Frankie amble off towards the mudroom after hearing Cassius and Drew hooting and hollering about a goal scored. Lily looked pensive and Ashlyn felt sorry for her. This was a tough topic for some adults to tackle, forget about 9-1/2 year old kids.

“Why do you want to be a vegetarian honey?” the keeper asked softly, rubbing Lily’s back. “Do you know?”

It took a couple of minutes for her to answer but Ashlyn was ok with that because she knew Lily was really thinking about her answer, which was what she wanted to happen.

“I love animals. I don’t want to eat them anymore” she replied and looked up at her mother with conviction in her eyes.

“Ok sweetpea. I can’t think of a better reason than that” she leaned over and kissed her daughter’s head. 

She decided not to try to explain that so many other things they used every day also came from animals and that not eating meat wasn’t really the fix that the girl thought it was going to be. There was no sense bursting her bubble. For now, the complicated issue was clear as a bell for Lily and Ashlyn didn’t want to ruin it.

“I think we should talk with Mom and together we can figure out what we can start making for you to eat. Ok?”

“Ok” a slow smile spread across Lily’s face as she looked up at Ashlyn. “Thanks Mama.”

Two floors above the dietary conversation, Ali and Sydney were searching high and low for a small box of Christmas decorations that hadn’t been in the storage bin where they were supposed to be when everything was unpacked yesterday for the big Christmas Tree decorating event at the big old house.

“Are you sure they’re not downstairs already, like they got packed away in a different way last year and the small box you’re looking for isn’t really necessary?” Sydney proposed after a solid half hour of poking around in the attic storage space at the back of the third floor.

“What are you even talking about?” Ali frowned. “They’re not downstairs. They haven’t been unpacked. I looked at everything again before we came up here...”

“Ok, ok, calm down. I wasn’t calling you senile or anything” the coach defended herself. “I just thought...Oh you know how it is at my house” she chuckled. “Nothing ever gets put away the same way it got unpacked. Nothing!”

They both laughed because it was true. Sydney Leroux Dwyer was great at a good many things, but keeping her household in tidy, organized shape with 3 boys tearing around was not one of them. The Dwyer house was the one where none of the board games ever had all the player pieces or cards or instructions still in the box. Gameboards were bent. Dice were missing. You always had to count the cards in the deck before using them to make sure all 52 were actually there. 

“I know boo, I know” Ali laughed with her best friend. “But I’m sure I put them away myself last year. It was only the second year we had them – you remember those 5 little silver angels Ash got me? One with each kid’s name etched into the glass wing?”

“Oooh, yeah, the ones you hung in the big bay window in the front living room” Sydney nodded. “those were beautiful. No way you let somebody else put those away half-assed” she shook her head. “Damn I wish Dom was half as sweet as Ashlyn” she giggled. “Can she give him lessons, please?”

They both laughed again and then Ali’s voice yelled triumphantly.

“Found it!”

“Oh thank God. I love you and it is nice and quiet up here but this is not fun.”

“Oh please. How long did we spend looking through the trash for your wedding ring last Thanksgiving?” Ali quirked her eyebrow as she moved towards the open door at the back of the third-floor hallway. “This was nothing compared to that.”

“You’re never gonna let me live that down are you?”

“Nope” Ali laughed. “Every time you whine about something like this...it’s coming back to bite you in the ass.”

“Hey, what’s this?” Sydney bent down and picked up a plain white plastic bag that had been tied together at the top. It had been discreetly tucked behind a stack of storage bins, meant to stay hidden. The search had exposed the bag.

“Oh, nothing” Ali replied quickly, but the look of sheer panic in her eyes told her bestie that it was far from nothing.

“Oh hell no” the coach laughed. “That face tells me I absolutely need to know what’s in this bag” she quickly worked on the knot to get the bag open and peered inside.

“Syd...” Ali closed the door to the third-floor hallway and walked towards the coach, embarrassment all over her face.

“What is this?” Sydney scrunched her face up as she pulled a clear plastic wrapped package out of the bag and held it up for a better look. “Is that a purple ACE bandage? What am I looking at here Alibaba?”

“Just put it back” the brunette beseeched, desperation in her eyes.

“No way, not until you tell me why you’re hiding colored ACE bandages up here and getting really worked up about them” she looked into the bag at the other package. “Two of them too. What the hell’s going on?” 

Ali hemmed and hawed for a couple of minutes until Sydney had endured enough.

“Alexandra Blaire Krieger, you tell me right now what I’m holding in my hand” she tried to bully the answer out of her shy best friend. When she saw the blush moving up Ali’s cheeks she sucked in a big breath and spoke again. “It’s a sex thing! This is your special present for Ash this Christmas, isn’t it?!”

“Shhhh...” Ali shushed and glared at the coach who was waiting for confirmation before letting loose one of her patented cackles. “Yes, ok? Fine. Just put it back...” she was cut off by the cackle of all cackles as Sydney roared with laughter.

“Oh my God, your face!” she howled, bending over and slapping her thigh as she laughed some more.

Ali stood there defiantly, with her arms folded across her body and around the small tote of missing ornaments, while her best friend took a full minute to calm down enough to be able to talk again.

“Put it back. Let’s go” Ali instructed, her tone stern but not quite bitchy.

“Oh no” Sydney shook her head. “Not until you tell me what these are” she tried to read the back of the package but couldn’t because it was in Japanese. “And what you do with them?” she wagged her eyebrows. “Do you tie her up with these? Are you guys into bondage stuff now?”

It was hard not to respond to Sydney’s enthusiasm and Ali found herself starting to grin. She knew she wasn’t trying to make fun of her. Sydney, as always, was excited about her discovery and happy for her best friend.

“Keep your voice down, for fuck’s sake” Ali whisper-yelled and stood close to the coach. “Yes, I mean, no, not really. Ugh. Just...”

“Slow down” Sydney met Ali’s frazzled eyes and put her hand on the brunette’s forearm for support. Her words were slow and soothing. “Take a breath and then just tell me boo. I’m not gonna tell anybody. I’m not gonna kink shame you.”

“Ugh” Ali rolled her eyes and exhaled, her cheeks still red from embarrassment. “Yes, I wrap her up” she confessed, unable to meet Sydney’s eyes. “They’re soft and pretty...”

“Does she tie you up too?”

“No, I mean, we have... a little, but this is different.”

“My mind is blown right now Als, I gotta tell ya” Sydney chuckled. “I never pictured you guys for bondage.”

“Well we don’t really do it a lot or very often” Ali stammered as she tried to explain. “We’ve both done it but it’s nothing much, just...you know...tying our hands to the headboard. That’s it.”

“Do you like that? Whose idea was it?” Sydney’s eyes sparkled with mischief as she got sexy new information about her painfully shy bestie. “We do it too sometimes. With a blindfold – that’s always a lot more fun than I think it’s gonna be” she admitted with a chuckle.

“We’ve done the blindfold a little bit too, but...”

“Oh I know” Sydney grinned and rolled her eyes. “You guys have sex with the lights on so you can see each other. There’s no way you’re blindfolding yourselves very often” she laughed but squeezed Ali’s arm to make sure she knew it was all in good fun. 

“I do like the tying up I guess” the brunette shrugged as she thought about how to explain it. “But we’ve never been very good at doing the long, drawn-out teasing thing. It took me a while to figure out why I liked...the tying up, and then I realized I liked...” she paused, self-conscious again.

“Don’t stop now boo, you’re on a roll and I have questions!” the coach smiled warmly, hoping to encourage Ali.

“Oh God, I can’t believe I’m telling you this” she shook her head and rolled her eyes again, but then continued. “I realized I liked the way she looked when she was tied up.”

“Oooh, kinky. I love it.”

“Neither of us is into any pain. No thank you” Ali made an eek face and shook her head.

“Yeah, not our bag either” Sydney agreed. “I mean, a little spank here or there or the occasional bite or pinch, but nothing more than that.”

“Exactly! Yes, us too.”

“Nothing wrong with a little rough action now and then though” Sydney smiled knowingly. “Sometimes I just need him to really fuck me hard, you know?”

“Oh God Syd” Ali blushed but didn’t disagree with the sentiment. 

The coach considered exploring that avenue of discussion when she recognized the guilty look on the brunette’s face, but then decided to focus on the topic at hand instead.

“Alright, so what’s so special about these?” the coach looked at the package in her hand again. “And what language is this?”

“It’s Japanese, they’re wrapping ribbons or ropes...”

“Wrapping? Not tying? Is that a translation thing or is it actually different?”

“Well, it’s complicated and there are a couple of different schools of thought on it, but the part that I like, the part that I want to learn is about the visuals of it, not the pain or the dominance.”

“You like the way she looks when she’s tied up” Sydney nodded, making the connection.

“Wrapped up” Ali corrected with a smirk. “Like a present.”

“Wow, this is pretty cool” Sydney gave her an approving smile. “But don’t skip the dominance” she winked. “That’s hot as hell, if you ask me.”

“Yeah, I know” Ali replied coyly, making Sydney chuckle. “We do a little of that too.”

“Look at you Als! I’m so proud of you” Sydney beamed at the brunette. “Using sex toys, growing your bush out for your girl, letting her do that sexy as fuck body shot in front of all of us down in Grenada...my baby’s growing up!”

They laughed together for a few minutes and then Ali got serious. Sydney didn’t miss the change.

“What’s the matter?”

“These wrapping techniques are hard to learn, all the different knots and patterns. I...I found a class...”

“You’re gonna go to a sex wrapping class?!” Sydney dropped her jaw to the floor.

“No!” Ali shushed her again. “God, no. It’s online...”

“Ahhhh” the coach nodded and winked. “Much better. Much more your speed.”

“Oh please, like you’d go to a sex wrapping class” Ali challenged with a judging smirk.

“I might.”

“Oh you would not.”

“But I might...”

“You’re crazy” Ali laughed but then got quiet again.

“Go on then, ask me” Sydney poked her bestie in the bicep and tried not to laugh at the anxious look on her face.

“Ask you what?” the brunette feigned innocence.

“Please” Sydney rolled her eyes, not falling for it. “Ask me to take the online class with you.”

“What?”

“You have to say the words or I won’t do it” the coach grinned mischievously. “It’s what you want isn’t it?”

As long as Ali lived she would never understand how Sydney Rae Leroux Dwyer always knew what was going on in her head better than she did her damned self sometimes. The truth was, Ali had been trying to ask her best friend about this for months but kept chickening out. Her plan was to learn how to do more wrapping techniques so she could impress Ashlyn. She didn’t want to have to learn how to do it with her wife. She wanted, for once in their sex lives, to be the one who knew something that Ashlyn didn’t. The class itself wasn’t as important to do together as the practicing. Ali desperately needed a body to practice on.

“Will you take the online class with me? Please?”

“Which class?” Sydney put her hand behind her ear as if she was having trouble hearing.

Ali groaned and shot a sharp look at the coach but obliged.

“Will you please take the online sex wrapping class with me?”

Sydney’s face looked like it was going to split open from the happiness she felt and the enormous grin she wore. She beamed at Ali as she answered her.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if anybody's seen the post about grief that Deb quotes during her talk with Meg. I've seen it on almost all forms of social media. I took it word for word (except I took out which exact airport he used because it didn't fit my narrative) and just had Deb say it that way. I've never read or seen a better description of what it feels like to grieve for somebody you loved. But I can't take any credit for it and I'm not trying to. I found it on Reddit and it's attributed to GSnow.


	17. Zoo Lights, Gingerbread, and the Flanagans

The Stone Zoo in Stoneham, MA, where Ali used to live, transformed itself into a winter wonderland from Thanksgiving night to New Year’s Day every year. Thousands of people paid admission, which went right to the zoo, and brought their families to walk through the paved paths and look at some of the animals that were hardy enough for a cold New England evening. Everything was decorated and there was a special exhibit for reindeer and another one for elves and all their toymaking wizardry. One of the most popular attractions there was a small carnival area with 5 different rides that were geared for little kids. There was even an indoor area where you could meet Santa Clause and get a picture, for an additional fee. Everything was lit up in beautiful holiday lights. Sometimes it snowed and made everything even more magical. It was pretty cool and Ali had always enjoyed it, even before she had kids of her own. Any friends of hers who had children always made a trip to visit the brunette who would take them to the zoo to see the Christmas lights. 

When Ali and Ashlyn started having their own kids it was a natural and automatic event for them to visit the Stone Zoo for Christmas. Ashlyn had gone with Ali and Sydney and Dom the first time they brought Cassius there back in 2017. He was only 3 months old and wouldn’t remember a thing, but the grownups had a good time. Ashlyn never forgot it and was the one who initiated their own first trip as new parents with Drew, two years later. Taking the kids to the zoo for the Christmas lights was an annual tradition for the Kriegers and had been since that evening in December of 2019. They had never missed a year. If they were going to be in Florida for Christmas, they worked the zoo evening in before they left or after they returned. The only time they had come close to skipping it had been in 2029 after the Emily Quindlen attack. Ali’s concussion recovery made it difficult and the brunette encouraged Ashlyn and the grandparents to take the kids and leave her at home. But there was no way Ashlyn would allow it. So they waited. They went the very last night, which was New Year’s Day 2030, and Ali did her best to stay out of the bright lights and in the shadows. Ashlyn trusted Ken and Koty to walk with her wife and protect her from any accidental or incidental contact. The three spent much of the three hours on a cold wooden bench on the periphery of the food truck area. The fresh air and darkness there had been blissful to the brunette. It was quieter than most other areas too and offered a good vantage point for much of the carnival ride section as well. The kids were getting used to the concept that their mom was injured and needed extra TLC by then. They would run over to the bench, full of exuberance, and tell Ali what they had just seen or eaten or ridden or touched or petted. Ken and Koty vigilantly reminded them to keep their voices down and to be gentle with Mom’s head during their hugs. As soon as the story had been spilled, the kid or kids ran back to the rest of the group and on to the next thing. Drew had been 10, Josie 8 and the twins 6 that year and it seemed just like yesterday.

Three years later the kids were 13, 11 and 9 and the appeal of the Christmas lights at the zoo was wearing off for some of them. Meg had started joining them once she moved to Boston for college, and would be in attendance this year for the third time in a row.

“What do you mean you’re not going?” Ashlyn frowned at her eldest son as he stood in front of her. She was jogging on the treadmill in the basement, doing the cardio workout she always did before lifting weights. It was early Sunday afternoon, December 19th, and they would be leaving for the zoo in three hours. “Where do you think you’re gonna be instead?”

“I don’t know” he shrugged and looked away with a sigh. “Here?”

Dodge was on the couch in the other half of the basement taking his turn on the video game Drew had just given up and trying to hear what was going on between his big brother and his Mama, without much success.

“You’d rather stay here by yourself than come with us to the zoo lights” she stated more than asked, not hiding her disappointment very well, as she kept up her pace on the treadmill. 

Drew just shrugged in reply, which drove both his mothers crazy. They were constantly telling him to use his words and it made them feel like they were talking to 4-year old Drew again instead of the 8th grader he was now.

“Say something...”

“Yeah, I guess” he glanced at Ashlyn with a flash of irritation in his eyes. “Ethan can come over...” he started to propose but was quickly cut off. 

“Oh no” she shook her head and continued talking through her labored breathing. “No Ethan. No Shawna. No nobody. If you’re not coming with us you’re staying here by yourself” she nodded definitively. “You can get a head start on your trumpet practice for the week.”

Drew mumbled something and slunk back to the couch to take out his frustration on his kid brother. He punched Dodge in his thigh and made him yelp in surprise and pain. Dodge didn’t cry or lose control of his gameplay. He just moved further away to the other end of the couch.

“Leave your brother alone!” Ashlyn yelled over her shoulder, knowing the routine all too well by then. “You’re mad at me, don’t take it out on him!”

An hour later as Ashlyn stripped out of her sweaty clothes to step into the shower, there was a knock on the closed bathroom door.

“I’m taking a shower, I’ll be out in a few minutes...”

“Mama, I wanna stay here too” Dodge’s voice came around the edges of the closed door. “Like Drew.”

“Well you’re coming with us to the zoo lights” Ashlyn replied as she turned the water in the shower on and held her hand in it until she got the temperature just right. “We’re leaving in 2 hours.”

She thought that was the end of it but as she was getting dressed in the bedroom 30 minutes later, Ali came in with a frown on her face.

“What’s going on with Drew staying here instead of coming to the zoo lights?” she leaned against the open door frame from the second-floor hallway that she had just walked through. She crossed her arms and kept frowning. “Did you tell him he could do that?”

“No, not officially” the keeper replied as she stepped into a pair of jeans and pulled them up her long legs. “He told me he wasn’t coming with us and I said if he wasn’t coming with us then he would stay here alone.”

Ali had to focus as she watched her wife stand up straight again, buttoning her fly and wearing nothing but a bra on the rest of her body.

“He said you told him he could stay here instead...”

“Al, I want him to come” she interrupted. “I’m all for forcing him to come and making him sit in the cold minivan while we’re all having fun. But he didn’t ask me. He told me. So I never officially gave him any kind of answer.”

“What?” Ali squinted, trying to follow her wife’s logic as Ashlyn moved to her closet to choose a shirt to wear.

“He was angling for Ethan to come over and the two of them hang out here while we were all gone. I sniffed it out and shot it down before he could get there. But I never gave him permission to stay here tonight.”

“Ugh” Ali rolled her eyes. Sometimes Ashlyn could get so hung up on the intricacies of how one of the kids asked for something that she ended up causing outrage or confusion where there really hadn’t been any. “Well, Dodge is in tears because you won’t let him stay here with Drew while we go to the zoo lights.”

“Fine” the keeper shrugged as she put an arm into a deep red button-up shirt. “We’ll all go then and Drew can pout in the minivan. Done deal.”

“Babe” Ali sighed and took a step closer to her wife as she cocked her head and gave her keeper a small smile. “This is supposed to be fun, not a chore that we make them do.”

“And you and I both know that Drew will have fun if he comes with us” Ashlyn countered softly. She let the brunette start doing up the buttons on her shirt for her as she continued to speak. “We’ve been dealing with this their entire lives. They think they want to do something we know they’ll hate, or they think they’ll hate something we know they’ll love – so we talk them into it or convince them to try it. That’s half of parenting right there.”

“I know, you’re right” Ali replied carefully as she kept working on the buttons. “But he’s 13 now. He’s not going to want to do everything we do anymore. We have to figure out how to be ok with that” she shrugged and looked into her favorite hazel eyes when she finished buttoning the top button.

“Hey, leave a couple undone” Ashlyn chuckled. “What are you trying to do, choke me?”

“No” Ali winked. “I just want to keep what’s mine covered up. Besides, it’ll be really cold once it’s dark. You sure you don’t want to wear a turtleneck or something.”

“I’m wearing a sweater over this, I’ll be nice and warm” Ashlyn smirked and undid the top two buttons as Ali leaned up and gave her a soft kiss.

“Fine” the brunette relented with a sigh and stepped back so her wife could keep getting dressed. “But I don’t want this to turn into the birthday cake thing all over again.”

“What does that mean?” Ashlyn frowned, genuinely confused by where Ali was going with this point.

“You force the kids to have my number birthday cakes even after they’re old enough to tell us what they really want...”

“I’m sorry if I think family traditions mean something” her words had some bite to them and surprised the brunette.

“Hey...”

“No, really, one day those kids will appreciate the things we did as a family and maybe they’ll do some of our traditions with their own kids. But it’ll never happen if we let them all go as soon as one of the kids gets bored with it.”

Ali took a beat because she could feel her temper rising. She tried hard to understand where Ashlyn was coming from with her argument. She watched the blonde pull socks onto her feet and her favorite forest green sweater over her head. Ashlyn had never had a lot of family traditions when she was growing up. It was easy to forget what a broken home she had been raised in. There was a reason the keeper defended their Krieger family traditions so steadfastly. She remembered what it was like to not have any.

“I love our family traditions too honey, hey, look at me for a minute” she tugged on Ashlyn’s arm to get her to turn around after adjusting the sweater so just the tails of her shirt hung below it at the waist. “I love them and I love you for always believing in them so hard. Really” she smiled up at her wife who looked more aggravated than upset. “But the kids are getting older and we have to pick our battles.”

“It’s just Drew. Everybody else is really looking forward to tonight.”

“I know, you’re right. And I don’t want Drew to ruin it for them” Ali chewed on her bottom lip as she struggled with the solution to their problem. “But it won’t be the same without him.”

“I thought if I told him he had to stay here by himself that he’d change his mind and want to come with us” the keeper admitted with a resigned sigh. “I don’t know what to do.”

“We do make them do a lot of things this time of year...” Ali considered the busy Krieger Christmas calendar from her kids’ point of view.

“Not really though” Ashlyn countered. “Yeah, so the MHI ball was just Friday night and I think that’s why he’s balking now. Two things in one weekend. But that’s really it. Zoo lights and the Nutcracker. Three things total. All month long. That’s not too much.”

“But then there’s Christmas Eve and Christmas Day stuff...”

“Oh please” Ashlyn rolled her eyes. “That’s such a hardship. Are you kidding me? They get waited on hand and foot while they play with their new toys and electronics. Ha!” she laughed.

“Ok, ok, so three things then” Ali laughed with her wife. “You’re right, that’s not too much to ask.”

“It’s not?” they looked at each other, both unsure of what the right thing to do was.

“No” Ali shook her head and gave her keeper a warm smile. “It’s not.”

“So he’s coming with us then?” Ashlyn quirked an eyebrow at her wife and then smiled back.

“I like your approach. We’ll let him decide” the brunette nodded thoughtfully as she formulated a plan. “But we’ll do what we always do and try to help him see how much fun he’ll have if he comes with us. I’ll go talk to him.”

“And your mom’ll be here any minute too. He still has a hard time saying no to her. Especially now.”

“Oooh, that’s ruthless, but if neither of us can talk him into it then we’ll bring in Grandma to close the deal” Ali grinned and then pulled her wife into an embrace.

They hugged for a few minutes, both thinking hard about the new ground they were traversing with their first teenager. Meg had gone through her difficult times but Hannah had dealt with the lion’s share of them. Drew was really the first teenager that was all on Ashlyn and Ali to figure out and guide without killing him in the process. It wasn’t going to be easy, for any of them.

“I love you baby” Ashlyn pressed a kiss into her wife’s cheek as they started to pull apart.

“I love you too” Ali pecked her keeper’s lips. “Now let’s do this.”

//

December went by as smoothly as could be expected. Holiday recitals at both schools, whirlwind shopping trips to get gifts for and from the kids. The youngest Kriegers were old enough now to have an opinion on what they gave to their moms. Gone were the days when Ali could just buy something for herself and for Ashlyn and wrap them up as gifts from the kids. Everybody had an opinion now. Even if the twins didn’t actually care yet, as soon as they heard Drew or Josie voice their opinion, Dodge and Lily chimed right in with their own two cents. The moms were finding out that their coercive parenting style didn’t always work anymore. Sometimes they had to make decisions and force the kids to stick to it simply because they were the mom and they said so. 

Deb had decided to stay in Massachusetts after her Thanksgiving visit after all. She found staying by herself in the condo in Manchester really difficult though. Ali and Ashlyn offered Meg’s room, or any of the kids’ rooms, to her for as long as she wanted but Deb said no. At first. After a week of sleeping in the depressing Manchester condo space by herself, Deb was found sleeping on the family room couch of the big old house early one morning by her daughter. She moved into Meg’s room for the holidays that very day and everybody was happy about it. Ali worried about her up on the third floor by herself, without a bathroom close by and with so many stairs involved. Deb was still able-bodied and active, but she was 72 and no spring chicken anymore. They had all gotten a frightening reminder of Grandma’s age and fragility last year when she had her hip surgery. It had been the first time Deb had ever seemed old, to any of them. After a week in Meg’s room, Deb agreed to sleep in Lily’s room instead. The little blonde was perfectly happy to sleep in the spare twin bed in Josie’s room and Ali and Ashlyn were relieved not to have to worry about Deb on the stairs in the middle of the night.

Meg stayed true to her word and drove up to Gloucester every weekend in December to spend time with Deb. She even spent one of those weekends with her at the condo trying to come up with a plan of attack for the home. Was Deb going to stay there? Was she going to move there full time? Was she going to sell it and move even closer to the big old house? There were so many possibilities and none of them seemed to be the right one. The Christmas festivities were a blessing for the grieving widow. She dove into them with her usual joie de vivre and tried to forget how sad she was about not having Mike with her. It was a bittersweet month but the Kriegers rallied together and made it through.

It was also the first time they attempted to make their own gingerbread house. Ashlyn knew that Ali had always wanted to build one but there just never seemed to be enough time to squeeze it into their already hectic Decembers up to that point. But one of the perks of the kids getting older was that they required much less one-on-one time. Ashlyn and Ali didn’t have to worry that one of the kids would wander off or stick their fingers into an electrical socket without direct supervision anymore. But all the kids were interested in the gingerbread house project, even Drew, and especially Meg. The idea of making a gingerbread house sounded like the very best thing in the entire world to miss Meg and she didn’t even try to hide her enthusiasm. 

Unfortunately, making a gingerbread house was a lot harder than any of them expected it to be. Gingerbread men and women and dogs and other animals were so much simpler. The grown-ups all looked up different things online and came back with different potential solutions. But their year-one gingerbread house was a complete bust. It didn’t even taste good when they finally gave up hope and decided to just eat the gingerbread in all its warped shapes and configurations. 

“Yuck, this is so gross” Meg spit the mouthful of gingerbread that had been part of the roof into her napkin and balled it up in her lap as she sat at the big dining room table. 

It seemed fitting that the big table functioned as the stage for the construction of the gingerbread house. They had used a big board, sanitized and covered by kitchen wrap first, of course, and carried it from the kitchen to the dining room between sessions. The plan had been to do the decorating in the dining room but they never even got that far. 

“No, no” Carol mumbled through pursed lips as she followed Meg’s lead, spitting into her own napkin. “That’s not good at all, is it?” she laughed.

It was the week before Christmas and Tammye and Carol had just arrived the day before. They invited Deb to stay with them in their beach house in Rockport, but the widow declined. She just didn’t feel like moving around anymore by then. But she really enjoyed spending time with both Tammye and Carol and would have accepted their invitation otherwise. 

“So, what did you do to make it taste like...” Tammye struggled with words that would describe the disgusting flavor in her mouth at that moment. “Like...dirt paste?”

“Ugh, what didn’t we do?” Ashlyn moaned as she watched the newcomers explore the ruins of their lofty endeavor. “It has to be firm enough but not too sticky. But if it’s not sticky enough then you can’t work with it” she rolled her eyes. “It stopped being about flavor after day 2” she laughed. “It’s all about consistency” she shrugged. “I haven’t been so frustrated in a loooong time.”

“She got sooo mad” Meg giggled. “I came in one night and she was down here by herself yelling at it.”

“It pissed me off” the blonde defended herself with a chuckle. “Stupid thing.”

“But you’re absolutely doing another one next year, aren’t you?” Tammye cocked her eyebrow at her daughter with a knowing look.

“Hell yes I am” Ashlyn set her jaw while everybody else laughed.

“Can I offer you some advice, for next year?” Carol asked with a wink.

“Please do” the keeper shook her head sadly but had a small smile on her face. “I need all the help I can get.”

“Just like with your garden” Carol nodded in the direction of the backyard behind the garage, “start small. Nothing’s quite as hard if you start small. You can always make it bigger the year after, but until you get it figured out...”

“Keep it simple, stupid” Ashlyn finished the sentence her own way and nodded. “When will I ever learn that one?”

//

Christmas Eve was on a Friday that year and the Kriegers added a new stop to their typical schedule. Since Iris Kimball had moved into the condo at the senior living facility the year before, the Kimballs no longer hosted one of the big 3 holiday events – Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day. Sydney and Dom still hosted Easter every year, and then Ali and Ken split the big 3. Everybody was used to doing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at either the big old house or up in Ipswich at Ken & Vicki’s house, one and then the other, so it really came down to rotating Thanksgiving. But nothing was etched in stone. They tried to be flexible, as a group, about the holidays. If somebody else felt like hosting Easter, then the Dwyers would pick up Thanksgiving, etc. This year, for example, Christmas Eve was at Ken & Vicki’s and Christmas Day was at Ali & Ashlyn’s.

Now that Tommy Flanagan’s enzyme replacement therapy appointments dictated much of Whitney and Ryan’s schedules, they began hosting the holidays for their extended families. Starting this year, the Long Island Flanagans and the California Engens’ worlds revolved around Boston, Massachusetts. More specifically, they centered on a slightly smaller, big old house in Winchester, MA. In the past, Ryan and Whitney had almost always taken their kids to one of their families for the holidays. Because Whitney’s birthday was near the end of November, they usually went to California for Thanksgiving and Long Island for Christmas. On the few occasions where they stayed local, the Engens drove up to Gloucester or Ipswich and joined in with the Kriegers and Dwyers to celebrate.

“You’re sure it’s ok for us to stop by on Friday?” Ali verified one last time, sitting across from Whitney in the lawyer’s Knight-Harris office earlier in the week. “I know you’ve got your folks and Ryan’s family...”

“Al, you’d better come over or I’m going to be really pissed” Whitney interrupted, giving the brunette a cautionary lifted eyebrow. “And Becca can’t wait to show Lily her newly re-decorated bedroom.”

“Ok, ok” Ali chuckled. “Ash said the same thing, but I just wanted to be sure. Sometimes she gets...excited and misses some of the subtleties.”

“She certainly does” Whitney laughed. “But not this time. This time she’s absolutely correct.”

It was so nice to be able to talk to somebody about Ashlyn like that and know that they understood that you didn’t mean the comment as a criticism. Ali never had to worry about Whitney misinterpreting something she said about her wife as a diss or a put-down. Ali knew that she was talking to the one other person on the earth who truly understood Ashlyn the way she herself did. It was a wonderful feeling and the brunette grinned from ear to ear.

“So what can we bring?” Ali asked and the two were off on an hors d’oeuvres tangent that would have made Martha Stewart proud.

Ashlyn and Ali had never felt that comfortable around Ryan’s family. There were no ill feelings or problems between the two groups, but there was the sense that the Long Island Flanagans weren’t big fans of the gays, in general. Ryan’s two brothers and sister were fine. They had grown up just as sheltered as Ryan had but adjusted to the real world as they had finally been exposed to it in college, just as Ryan had. And it wasn’t like the elder Flanagans were homophobic, they just weren’t used to gay men or lesbians. They didn’t know how to handle it, what to do or say to Ali or Ashlyn. It was pure ignorance and nothing more. Over the years there hadn’t been too many occasions to get together, but when the elder Flanagans came up to Boston they invariably ended up seeing at least Ashlyn and usually Ali and the kids too. The extreme events of the past year with Tommy’s diagnosis and treatment had only cemented Ashlyn and Ali’s roles in Whitney, Ryan, Becca, and Tommy’s lives. The two families were closer than ever and Becca, in addition to being Ali and Ashlyn’s godchild, had become another daughter to them once a week. They had spent every Wednesday afternoon and evening together, often with a sleepover at the big old house included, for the past 11 months and it showed.

The Krieger plan was to go to Whitney’s house from 3pm to 5pm on Christmas Eve, then up to Ken & Vicki’s in Ipswich from 6pm to 8pm. Then home and into bed so Santa could come and the two moms would have time to get everything set up for Christmas morning. They showed up at the Flanagan’s house on time, dressed in casual but Christmas-y attire. Lily, as she sometimes did, wore an outfit that closely matched her Mama’s. The girl was the most eclectic of the four Krieger kids and neither of her mothers tried to restrict what she wore. The only thing they made sure of was that the outfit she chose was appropriate for the event they were attending. In other words, she had to be dressed up if they were dressing up – but they didn’t care if she wore a pretty dress like Ali and Josie or a dress shirt and tie like Ashlyn, Drew, and Dodge. Lily liked wearing both styles and it was difficult to predict what she would wear at any given time. Typically, she wore commonly accepted female clothes to school and in her everyday life. But when the family got dressed up to go out she sometimes wore more masculine outfits. Other times, like the MHI ball each December, she got all decked out in a beautiful ball gown like every princess you could ever imagine. 

“Ok, well, I hope Tom and Koral are ready for this” Ali spoke quietly, so only her wife could hear her, as the two moms ushered their four children out of the mudroom and into the driveway that Christmas Eve afternoon. 

9-1/2 year old Lily had chosen tan-colored corduroy pants and her current white and tan oxford dress shoes to go with her crisp white dress shirt, red bow-tie, and matching red suspenders. The dress shirt had small candy canes all over it and the girl looked absolutely adorable. Her long blonde hair was down with a side part and one red barrette holding it back out of her face over on the other side of her head. Ashlyn’s outfit was almost identical. The Kriegers hadn’t spent Christmas with the Long Island Flanagans before and Ali just realized that they had never seen Lily dressed in anything other than clothes that they would expect their own granddaughter, Becca, to wear. 

“Oh shit” Ashlyn turned to her with wide eyes. “I didn’t even think about that.”

“Well, it’s not like we were gonna tell her she couldn’t wear it, were we?”

“Definitely not” the keeper shook her head. They shared a nervous chuckle and a quick kiss before following the kids out of the mudroom. “Oh well, we’re here, we’re queer, deal with it.”

They both laughed and Ali leaned into her wife, squeezing her bicep through her winter coat.

“She looks cute in that outfit, but you look beautiful babe.”

45 minutes later they were greeted by Ryan and welcomed into the bustling Flanagan home. Whitney’s mom and dad were the next to greet them, coming into the front foyer with big hugs and kisses as they oohed and aahed over the kids for a solid 5 minutes. Chris and Kim Engen were some of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet and had been accepting of Ashlyn from the very first time they met her on the UNC campus back in college. There had been no looking back.

As the Kriegers shed their coats and Ryan and Mr. Engen took the hors d’oeuvres from them into the kitchen, there was an awkward moment when Tom and Koral Flanagan came into the front foyer to help as well. Ali and Ashlyn were focused on making sure their kids got their wet shoes off before running through the house and didn’t notice Tom and Koral for a minute. Kim Engen saw an anxious exchange between the elder Flanagans and cleared her throat out of her own nervousness. Ali and Ashlyn both looked up, but before they had a chance to react, Koral Flanagan stepped forward. She hugged Ali first, wrapping her up tightly after mumbling an emotional thank you. Then she moved right on to Ashlyn, repeating the hug and the gratitude while Tom came and shook Ali’s hand. After Ashlyn received her handshake the four of them stood looking at each other awkwardly while Kim Engen encouraged the kids to move into the living room where Becca, Tommy and Rusty the cat were all hanging out.

“It’s nice to see you again Koral” Ali nodded and smiled, unsure what was happening. They had never been greeted by Tom and Koral Flanagan like that before. Ever. “Merry Christmas.”

“Oh, we just...” the flummoxed woman started and stopped. “This year has been so hard...” Koral tried again. “We don’t know what we’d have done without all your help” she finally got out and looked like she was about to cry. “Thank you both, so much, for everything” she finished and hugged Ali again which left Tom and Ashlyn to smile a bit uncomfortably at each other.

“Mom, mom” Ryan’s voice entered the room before he did. “Give them a chance to come in before you get all...blubbery on them” he rolled his eyes and blushed as he approached the awkward group by the front door. “Come on, we talked about this” he literally pried his mother off of Ali and then stood between his parents, one arm around each of them. He grinned at the Kriegers as he spoke. “It’s been a tough year on all of us and they really appreciate you guys being there for us...especially with Becca.”

“Oh, well, we’d do anything in the world for Whit and Ryan and the kids” Ashlyn smiled reassuringly at Mrs. Flanagan. “We love them. They’re like family to us.”

Ali felt her eye twitch when she heard the words her wife had chosen. If Tom and Koral weren’t uncomfortable before, they surely would be now that Ashlyn made it sound like the lesbians were out to steal the Flanagans for their own. Ashlyn realized the same thing at the same moment and opened her mouth to try and get her foot out of it. Before she got the chance, Becca popped her head into the doorway from the living room and waved.

“Hi auntie Ali and auntie Ash!”

And then Whitney was finally there, hugging first Ashlyn and then Ali and completing the distraction that ended the awkward exchange.

“Ry, why are you hogging them?” she playfully slapped her husband’s arm. “I need Ali in the kitchen for a minute, no offense Ash.”

“None taken” the keeper chuckled. “I need to get my hands on your cute kids anyway.”

The two hours went by easily, especially once Ryan’s brothers and sister and their families got involved in the conversation. Ryan had two older brothers, Joe and Patrick, and one younger sister, Caitlin. They were all married with at least one kid each so the house was packed full. They were staying at a hotel nearby which troubled Whitney at first. But Ryan explained they were just trying to not make their life more challenging. Having Tom and Koral staying at the house was enough for Whitney and Ryan to handle. 

Josie dazzled everybody by playing Christmas carols on the electronic keyboard in the living room. Ashlyn wondered if she would notice that it used to be hers before being handed down for Becca to enjoy. It was impossible to miss the close bond between Lily and Becca as the two girls spent most of their time together playing with Rusty the cat.

“So, sorry if Lily’s outfit causes you any grief with the in-laws” Ashlyn apologized to her best friend as they stood side by side in the kitchen enjoying a quiet moment before the Kriegers had to leave.

“What?” Whitney seemed sincerely confused for a few seconds. “Oh, ha!” she laughed out loud. “It never even occurred to me. Oh I love it” she laughed some more. “I hope Becca asks for an outfit just like it” she grinned at the keeper. 

“I love you” Ashlyn chuckled, amazed at how much her best friend had changed this past year. 

Whitney was still one of the nicest people you would ever meet, but she didn’t sweat the small stuff very much anymore. Her priorities had been adjusted for her by the universe and she didn’t care what her in-laws thought about anything anymore. All she cared about was the well-being of her kids and keeping them healthy and happy. She and Ryan had worked through their struggles from May and his disappearing weekend. Ryan had taken a leave of absence from his coaching job, knowing full well that it would probably lead to him getting fired or asked to resign this offseason. Lacrosse was his great love, aside from his wife and family, and he had been living his dream as the head coach of the Boston Cannons. But Tommy needed him this past year and it was as simple as that. Whitney made enough money for them to live off of and Ryan was hopeful he could work something out with the Cannons where he could stay with the organization but not have to travel with the team. He had a meeting scheduled for January to sit down with the ownership and chart a course forward. Worst case scenario, he could go back to being a personal trainer and working with clients when it fit well with his schedule. The important thing was that he and Whitney had re-established their connection and were both moving in the same direction and communicating now. 

“Taylor’s gonna be mad he missed you tonight” the lawyer mentioned her brother who was flying in from California with his wife later that evening.

“Not my fault their flight got delayed” Ashlyn shrugged and then laughed when Whitney punched her in the arm. “Ow, ok, ok” she laughed again. “Give them both my love and remind them I’ll see them for skating on Monday.”

“Hey Ash, can I tell you something?”

“Dirty truth?”

“Yeah” Whitney responded and waited for her bestie to nod her approval before continuing. “I wouldn’t have made it through this year without you.”

“Aw, come on Whit. I might have helped a little, but this was all you.”

“No, it wasn’t” the lawyer shook her head. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I was terrified and angry and confused and depressed and heartbroken and a million other things this year and you accepted me just as I was, no matter how I was, every single time.” She paused as her emotions started to rise up. “You didn’t try to fix everything for me, although you did solve more than one problem even though it wasn’t your goal” she chuckled. “You were just there for me. All the time. No matter what. I can’t tell you what it means...how it felt...I don’t have the words for it.”

“You don’t have to tell me Whit” Ashlyn put her arm around her best friend’s shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “I already know what you mean though, how it felt.” 

“You do?”

“Of course I do” the keeper smiled tenderly. “You’ve been showing up for me like that for as long as I can remember. I’m sorry as hell that you had such a brutal year. But I am glad you finally needed me the way I’ve always needed you – but not in the selfish way that just sounded” she shook her head, disappointed with the way the words had come out of her mouth. “Jesus...”

“Yes, I know what you meant” the lawyer replied with a soft elbow to her bestie’s ribs before getting more serious. “Ash...I still need you. I mean, we’re finally starting to get this ERT figured out, but I don’t know how we’d do it without you. I don’t wanna do it without you...” 

“Good, because I figure I’ve got about another 28 or 29 years to go before I catch up to you, before we’re close to even” Ashlyn smiled. “I’m not going anywhere Whit.”

“It’s a deal then” Whitney turned and gave her bestie a kiss on the cheek and a hug. “Merry Christmas.”


	18. Christmas Surprises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut warning

The big old house was full on Christmas Day as Ali and Ashlyn hosted Kyle and his family, Iris and Jared Kimball, the Dwyers and Sandi Leroux, Tammye and Carol, Ken and Vicki, Koty and his family, Tanner and his girlfriend Renee, and Deb. The NH Kriegers were supposed to join them as well but cancelled at the last minute because Aunt Becky wasn’t feeling well. Her health had taken a few hits since Easter and she had become less mobile than ever. Nobody said it but it was starting to feel like the beginning of the end of horrible old Aunty Blechy. It made sense that all of the NH Kriegers wanted to stay with her for what might be her last Christmas.

Hannah had taken Meg and a couple of friends skiing in Aspen again for the week between Christmas and New Year’s. But sweet, attentive Meg had stayed close to Deb right up until she left Boston on December 23rd. It was a display of kindness that surprised nobody who knew Meg, and Deb would never forget it. One of those friends who went to Aspen was Charlie Applegate and Ashlyn was forced to accept the fact that the tall young man had become an important person in her stepdaughter’s life. They weren’t officially dating. But their friendship, forged as classmates and study buddies at Boston College as freshmen, had clearly turned into something more over the past year. 

In the three weeks following Mike Christopher’s death, after the funeral and when everybody had gone back to their own busy lives, Ali tried to be there for her mother as much as possible. She couldn’t physically be in Miami but she called and talked with her mom every day, without fail. Sometimes she talked to Deb two or three times a day. Those were usually the days when the brunette herself felt her mother’s loss more acutely. Those were the days when Ali couldn’t help but imagine what it might be like to lose Ashlyn. Those were awful days. But Ali did the best she could to support her mother and make sure Deb knew that she wasn’t alone or forgotten or obsolete in any way. The brunette tried to do nice things for the grieving widow. She sent flowers to the house in Miami. She sent cards, just to show Deb she was thinking of her and loving her. She had the kids call Grandma and FaceTime her and send her cards and pictures too. It was Ashlyn who came up with perhaps the best idea for something that would certainly cheer Deb up.

“Why don’t we get everybody to go to The Nutcracker with her again this Christmas?” the blonde had suggested in early November.

Ali looked up at her from the mudroom desk where she was paying some bills. The keeper was drying her hands in the doorway to the kitchen after finishing the dinner clean up.

“We don’t have to” Ashlyn added quickly, unable to read her wife’s face at first. “I just know she loves that so much...”

“I can’t think of anything that would make her happier” Ali’s bottom lip started to quiver as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.

“Aw, baby, I’m sorry” Ashlyn flipped the dishtowel on top of her shoulder, took the two steps to the desk and let her wife pull her in for a hug. Ali buried her face in the keeper’s stomach and started to cry. “I didn’t mean to upset you...” Ashlyn cooed as she held her beautiful brunette’s head and rubbed her back. She knew how heartbroken her wife was for Deb. They both hated knowing that Deb was suffering.

“No, no...it’s perfect” Ali whimpered. 

Some group of Kriegers went to The Nutcracker every year. Sometimes lots of extended family joined. Sometimes not. The constants were Ali, Ashlyn, Deb and the Krieger kids. It took coordination to get tickets for everybody who wanted to attend, and it wasn’t easy to wrangle a big group and agree on a date and all of those logistics – especially when factoring in travel from NYC and Florida. Deb hadn’t been to The Nutcracker with all 7 of her grandchildren since that very first time, six years ago. It had been the first time Meg spent Christmas in New England. It had also been the year Hannah saw the real Dev, her horrible ex-husband, for the very first time too. But one of the happiest memories of all was Deb taking all her grandkids to The Nutcracker matinee.

“It’s just a silly idea, just forget I said anything...” Ashlyn tried to walk back what she thought was a bad idea. She hadn’t quite been able to make out Ali’s muffled mumble.

“No, Ash, it’s exactly what we’re gonna do” the brunette pulled her head back and looked up at her keeper. “I’m gonna start planning it tonight, right away.” She returned to the hug and gave her wife an even bigger squeeze. “You’re a genius.”

So that was how seeing the Sunday, December 26th, matinee of The Nutcracker came to be that year. Deb loved the surprise and got to go with all of her grandchildren except Meg, but both grandmother and granddaughter were ok with it because they had spent so much time together already that month. Meg had been terribly conflicted because she had already committed to the Aspen trip with her mom and friends and couldn’t just back out. Both Ali and Ashlyn made sure the redhead knew that going to Aspen was the right thing to do. They told her that it was what Deb would want her to do.

The NYC Kriegers were in. Tammye and Carol were in. Ken and Vicki were in. And, of course, Deb was in. They all gathered at Ali and Ashlyn’s house and drove in together in 3 different vehicles. Following the normal routine, they went into Boston and had an early lunch so they would be ready to enjoy the 1:30pm matinee performance. Everybody had a good time. Even Drew and Edgar, the older boys, managed to not look too put out about being at the ballet with their family. Deb was in her glory and Ali was so grateful that her sweet wife had thought of such a wonderful gift to give.

What happened after lunch and The Nutcracker was also a surprise. The grandparents had cooked this one up for their children and were quite pleased with themselves. When everyone had returned to the big old house after the show, at about 5pm, Ken cleared his throat to get the kids’ attention before they scattered to different rooms.

“Ok grandchildren, Drew, Edgar, and Dodge – you’re coming with Vivi and me for a sleepover tonight...” he announced loudly and with more excitement than his usual, reserved demeanor offered.

“And Josie, Cristina, and Lily – you’re coming with us!” Tammye added with a big grin as she walked between Carol and Deb and put an arm around each woman who, both also beaming at the kids.

“What’s happening?” Kyle glanced at his sister, confused.

“Don’t look at me” Ali shrugged. “I have no idea” she looked quickly to her wife who was just as wide-eyed as the kids were.

“But first you’re all going to go have dinner with Grammy I” Nathan winked at his husband and sisters-in-law as he started talking to the kids. 

He was referencing his mother, Iris, whom the Guerreros had originally started calling Abuela. But that had never really stuck. So over the years they had started calling her Grammy I. It was one of the strange kid things that just sort of organically happened. No-one was sure if Edgar or Cristina had come up with it, and it didn’t really matter. Iris’ condo complex had their own Christmas celebration that day so she had to miss The Nutcracker excursion, but was eager to be involved in the surprise for Kyle, Nathan, Ali and Ashlyn. 

“Ooh, can we go to Dave & Buster’s?” Lily asked with a small squeal.

“I hope so” Deb laughed. “Because that’s where we have the reservation.”

“Yes!”  
“Awesome!”

The kids all chimed in their approval. Eating dinner with Grammy I usually meant going to the ginormous restaurant and video arcade combination establishment right down the road from her senior living condo complex. It only seemed to happen when the Guerreros were visiting, for obvious reasons, and that night was a perfect night for another adventure there.

“Umm, are you sure you guys are up for this?” Ashlyn leaned into Vicki, who was standing next to her, and kept her voice low. “They’re already pretty fired up from The Nutcracker...”

“We’re good” Vicki smiled at the blonde. “The plan is to run them ragged at the arcade so they’ll pass out once we get them back home” she winked. 

Vicki chuckled when she saw the slight alarm on Ashlyn’s face. It wasn’t a bad plan, and Ashlyn had used it herself, many times. But it took a lot of energy to keep track of the kids at the arcade and the keeper didn’t want the grandparent brigade to go to an enormous effort on their account.

“Really” she nodded confidently at Ashlyn. “That’s why we checked with Nate first. We’ll be fine.”

“And the extra extra surprise is that Koty and Tanner are gonna meet us there to do most of the running around for us” Ken added with a knowing grin. “But that’s our little secret” he motioned among Ashlyn, Vicki and himself conspiratorially.

Everybody else was already scrambling around getting bags packed and kid-sized air mattresses and sleeping bags ready. It was a solid thirty minutes of complete bedlam.

“Mom, are you sure about this?” Ali asked Deb once she and Kyle had managed to pull her into the dining room and out of the fray.

“Yeah, this is a lot” Kyle added, concern evident on his face and in his voice. “It’s a lot even for us” he motioned between he and his sister as he tried to keep a serious face until he could deliver his quip. “And we’re not even old and rickety yet.”

“Oh, you’ll pay for that one, mister” Deb swatted his big bicep and laughed out loud, joining both of her children.

“As long as you’re sure” Ali studied her mother’s face after another minute of laughter. “But don’t...”

“Just stop. Both of you” Deb interrupted with a strong quirk of her eyebrow. “Tonight is for you and your partners. Go out and have fun. Stay in and have fun” she wagged her eyebrows suggestively – making both of her adult children groan in embarrassment. “Just do something for yourselves” she paused a moment and smiled softly at Kyle and Ali. There were many words that went unspoken as they exchanged heartfelt looks. It had been a tough couple of months for the tightknit trio and none of them would deny it. “You and Nate are staying at the condo tonight” she hugged Kyle and kissed him on the cheek. “And we don’t want to see you back here until lunch time tomorrow” she warned before grinning again. “And we’re taking Peaches for Cristina but you’ll have to manage Logan and Frankie” she frowned at Ali. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry” Ali laughed. “That’s a deal!”

So that’s how Ali and Ashlyn found themselves with a surprise grown-up night, all alone in the big old house on Sunday, December 26th. Santa was truly good to them that year. If they were really lucky, none of the 4 kids they were responsible for would get sick or so upset that they needed one of their moms during the night. All the grown-ups were saying the same silent prayer as they helped load kids and crap into vehicles for the overnight excursion.

“Do you believe this?” Ashlyn shook her head as the four partners stood side by side in the cold driveway, waving to the last of the grandparents’ cars backing out onto Beach Rd.

“Miracles do come true” Ali laughed. “Thanks for making this happen Nate.”

“I had very little to do with it. They came up with the plan all on their own” he deflected the praise. “They just ran it by me to make sure they weren’t missing something.” He waved one last time to Cristina. “Beautiful humans...every one of them” he quipped, but they all agreed with the statement sincerely.

“So what do you guys wannna do?” Kyle asked excitedly as they started to walk back into the mudroom, hugging themselves from the cold and rubbing their arms to keep warm.

“Nothing that involves you and Nate” Ali laughed and gave her brother a playful annoyed look. “Get your shit and get out!”

They all laughed and Ashlyn fought the urge to pounce on her wife right that instant. She loved it when Ali made her intentions crystal clear.

“Gross sis” Kyle faked his disgust but couldn’t keep the smile off of his face. “I know you two just wanna do your kinky little Christmas toy swap. Don’t worry, we’ll be gone in half an hour” he laughed and then cackled when he saw the mortification on his sister’s face.

“Kyle...” Nathan chastised quietly and pushed his husband towards the front stairs so they could go up to the third floor and pack a bag.

“Oh please” Kyle replied dramatically. “She’s not that fragile. She’ll get over it” he laughed again. “And if not, then I’m sure Ash has something she can use to... whip her into shape.”

Whatever hope Ali had that her brother was just bluffing to see if she’d blink and confirm his suspicions went out the window with that last remark. He knew more than she wanted him to know, that was for sure. Her curiosity was stronger than her vanity and desire to save face.

“How do you know...what we give each other for Christmas?” Ali asked pointedly, almost defiantly. She almost pulled off the brave, confident façade too. But her brother knew her too well. She usually took comfort from that, but not this time.

“Oh sissy, you and Syd are never as quiet as you think you are” he laughed from the foot of the stairs, just his head sticking into the front living room with a big smirk on it. “You never were when we were kids, and you’re still not now.”

Two hours later, after getting rid of Kyle and Nathan, changing into comfy clothes, eating their fill of leftovers, and watching an episode of their latest Netflix show, Ali and Ashlyn were sprawled out on the big ‘L’ shaped couch in the front living room. The couple often ended up on the more traditional couch in the family room after hanging out with the kids in the front living room all evening, just for a change of scenery. But the front living room couch was definitely the most comfortable of the two. Ali and Ashlyn were stretched out together, side by side, like they used to do before they had kids and barely any time to relax on the couch at the same time. It was 8pm and time to move on to the next activity.

“What do you think?” Ashlyn asked obliquely, as Ali played with her large hand pulled onto her own hip, eyes still on the tv. She wasn’t sure what kind of mood the brunette was in and was trying to figure it out before making her next move.

“I think I’m gonna kill Syd” the brunette sighed and then whined. “I can’t believe Kyle knows...whatever he knows” she turned to look into Ashlyn’s amused but still compassionate face. “It’s not funny.”

“I’m not laughing” the keeper shook her head. “But I don’t get why this is bugging you so much. You’ve told him yourself that we do special presents every year...”

“Yeah, but never what they actually were” Ali’s eyes were wide at the very idea that her brother might know about the kind of toys they used together in bed. The only person she had shared some of those secrets with was Sydney.

“So why do you think he knows that now? He made a comment about whipping you into shape. We don’t even own a whip and we’re not into that anyway” Ashlyn countered, genuinely confused by her wife’s upset. “He’s just bluffing.”

“He knows” Ali nodded, her voice even and flat. “I know he knows. I can just tell.”

Ashlyn was about all done wasting their precious one-on-one time talking about Kyle Krieger. For all either of them knew, Kyle had found their toy box in Ali’s closet and looked at every single thing inside. She still didn’t understand why it mattered, as long as he didn’t bring it up in front of anybody.

“So what if he does?” Ashlyn shrugged after a minute of contemplation. “Who cares?”

“I care” Ali gave her a quizzical look. “Obviously.”

“But why?” Ashlyn sat up and turned to her left to face the brunette, the back of the couch behind the keeper. “You guys share almost everything with each other anyway, which I’ve always thought was really cool. But I don’t understand why this is bothering you so much, aside from the fact that you’re really shy about sex in general.”

The brunette had to think about what to say and she kept a hold of her wife’s hand while she considered the question. She was holding it on top of her lap and caressing it with her free hand at the same time.

“I guess I don’t want him judging me...or my kinks” she blushed as she gazed up into hazel eyes that blinked back sweetly at her.

“Do you judge him for what he does with Nate in bed?”

“Eww, God no. I try really hard not to think about it at all. He’s my brother. Yuck.”

“No, I know” Ashlyn chuckled and her dimple appeared. “But aside from that. Do you care what he does in bed?”

“No” Ali shook her head. “I just want him to be happy. And safe” she added quickly.

“Exactly. And I’ll bet that’s all he wants for you too” Ashlyn lifted her hand up off of Ali’s hip and kissed her wife’s knuckles that came with it.

“And I’m terrified he’s gonna, like, bring it up sometime in front of other people” Ali rolled her eyes and groaned. “Oh my God, can you imagine?” she asked, truly horrified at the idea.

“Well don’t worry about that” Ashlyn replied confidently as she lay down next to her wife again, this time on her side, propped up on her left elbow. She gently moved some stray brunette hair away from Ali’s neck and then bent down to kiss her lips. “I’ll kill him myself if he ever tries to do that. That’s our business. Not his.”

The flash of anger in the hazel eyes above her set off a spark in Ali that quickly lit the flame of passion they both knew would be taking center stage that night. Eventually.  
“Ooooh, I love when you come to my rescue like that babe” Ali chuckled after another kiss. “I know it’s a feminist fail, so don’t tell anybody” she giggled. “But it’s hot as hell and I love it.”

“I know” Ashlyn joined with her own giggle. “I think so too, when you do it for me” she took her free hand and trailed her long index finger down the middle of Ali’s torso, all the way down to the top of her joggers. “I think it’s cool that we can both defend ourselves if we have to, but still love our wife to help out too.”

They kissed again, this time much deeper and more passionately than they had so far. Ashlyn was enjoying exploring her wife’s body and had managed to get her joggers untied and her sweatshirt pushed halfway up her torso when they came up for air.

“Should we go upstairs?” Ali asked, her voice husky with mounting desire.

“Do we need to go upstairs?” Ashlyn wagged her eyebrows as she slowly loosened the waist of her wife’s pants, never taking her eyes off of the darkening chocolate ones below her.

“Well, your Christmas present is up there...” Ali flinched when she felt her keeper’s fingers against the warm, bare skin inside her waistline. She moaned when Ashlyn lowered her head and used her nose to nudge the brunette’s breast, still hidden behind one of her holiday-themed sweatshirts. “Mmmmm...”

The keeper moved her right hand up her wife’s body again, sliding underneath her t-shirt and sweatshirt, until she could palm Ali’s left breast with nothing in the way. She felt her own body respond when the brunette arched her back at the contact, moaning again and trying to pull Ashlyn closer. The blonde relented, allowing her wife to pull her head up where Ali captured her lips in a hot, hungry kiss. Ashlyn felt the intensity of the kiss right down to her core and moaned into it.

“Mmmmm...damn, you feel so good baby” she panted out when Ali finally released her mouth after tugging on her bottom lip until the last possible second.

Ashlyn threw her leg over Ali’s thighs, only to have the brunette grab a handful of her sweatpants and pull her all the way on top of her.

“I need to feel you...” Ali requested breathlessly. “And this is in the way” she awkwardly tugged at her own t-shirt and sweatshirt without much progress until Ashlyn used two hands to help her pull both items up and over her head from her position straddling her hips. “Yours too” the brunette nodded at the soft clothes covering her wife’s upper body.

If Ashlyn doubted her wife’s interest in staying right where they were for the time being, she had her confirmation. Half-naked wasn’t the same as naked so there was always the chance they would retreat to their bedroom before things got really good. The keeper didn’t care anymore. All she cared about in that moment was how beautiful Ali’s breasts looked and how badly she wanted her mouth on those dark nipples. Before she could act on that desire, Ali sat up and made a meal out of Ashlyn’s pretty pink nipples, noisily slurping and humming into the keeper’s chest for a solid 5 minutes.

“Jesus, your mouth...” Ashlyn gasped during a particularly strong suck from her brunette. “That magical, fucking mouth of yours...”

Ali had her hands on her wife’s bare back and sweatpant-covered ass as she tended to her breasts and nipples. It was dark and quiet in the house, only the low volume from the tv, the occasional whimper or whine from the sleeping dogs, and the slow ticking of the grandfather clock in the front hall could be heard. The brunette used an alternating series of broad licks, strong sucks, and gentle nips to get both of Ashlyn’s nipples standing at full attention. She slid one hand inside the back of her wife’s pants, hungry for more bare skin, and brought the other hand around to continue teasing the stiff buds while she worked her lips up Ashlyn’s chest to the base of her throat. She sucked hard, surprised by how much she wanted to leave a mark on her wife. They hadn’t left hickeys in any noticeable places for years but Ali felt an overwhelming need to leave her mark there now.

“So beautiful...” she mumbled into the soft, delicate flesh as she tried to control herself. She scratched at the skin she could reach inside the back of her keeper’s pants, frustrated by the limited room to move, and tugged on the hard nipple in her left hand. “Fuck, Ash...”

“Feels good...Mmmmm...” Ashlyn responded with her own breathy voice as she started to rock her hips just a bit. She felt her wife’s mouth latch onto her neck again at the same time Ali dug her blunt nails into her ass cheek, hard. “Mmmm...ow!” she yelped. “You did not just give me a hickey” she accused, pulling back with a stern look on her face.

“I tried so hard not to” Ali’s remorseful face gazed up into the frowning visage above her. “I couldn’t help it...I’m sorry babe, I tried...I swear I tried.”

Ashlyn could see that her wife was being honest. The guilty look on her face housed nothing else – no teasing or playfulness. Just guilt and lust. It was impossible to stay upset with her for very long and Ashlyn caved quickly. 

“You’re lucky it’s turtleneck and scarf weather” the keeper grumbled, frown still on her face.

Something about the forgiveness with the still-ticked off look from the blonde emboldened Ali. She had pushed her luck, committed a foul, and not suffered any repercussions. The brunette locked eyes with her wife and they shared a heated, passionate stare that fueled the building desire in both women. Suddenly Ali’s eyes flashed and she shoved her keeper backwards, both hands up at her shoulders driving the blonde onto her back and into the other end of the couch. Ashlyn straightened her legs and grunted when she felt all of her wife’s weight land on top of her, followed by another deep, probing kiss. 

“Ooof...damn, baby...Mmmmm...” 

Ali hesitated for a split second after laying her body right on top of her wife’s, but knew Ashlyn was ok as soon as she heard her whine out one of her favorite sexy time phrases. She was further reassured when Ashlyn hungrily accepted the kiss and moaned into it. Their naked upper bodies moved together, stiff nipples poking into hot skin while their hands latched onto hips and backsides and waistbands. Ali was on a mission to devour her wife’s whole mouth and Ashlyn wasn’t going to fight her. She was perfectly willing to let the brunette have her way with every part of her body in that moment. Sexy Christmas gifts and moving upstairs were thoughts that had been completely abandoned for the time being. Ashlyn was lost in the dizzying feel of Ali Krieger’s mouth, and breasts, and hands, and so much soft brunette hair falling all around both their heads. Ali was in the zone she sometimes went to, when she was so turned on and eager and desperate for her wife’s body that she barely spoke. She focused on the task at hand and nothing could deter her from following the commands of her raging libido.

“Fuck...” she mumbled as she dragged her lips down Ashlyn’s neck, gasping against the hot skin there as she tried to catch her breath without stopping her motion. The feel of Ashlyn’s hands on her bare back and squeezing her ass...stupid joggers still in the way, was making her heart pound and her blood race through her veins at top speed. “Fuck...Ash...”

She sat up just as suddenly as she had pushed Ashlyn over minutes before. Ali’s hands flew to her wife’s waist, loosening her sweatpants as the keeper slid her hands up and down the brunette’s thighs, tugging at the already untied joggers there. Ali stood up and yanked the blonde’s pants off, then hurriedly pulled her own pants and panties down while watching Ashlyn slide her colorful boxer briefs down past her hips. The brunette felt her stomach flip flop at the sight of her naked wife – so fucking beautiful and laying there waiting for her. Ashlyn literally took her breath away as Ali stood there, panting and trying to calm herself down enough so she could still function.

“God, you’re so fucking gorgeous Al...” Ashlyn’s husky voice revealed that she was just as mesmerized in that moment as the brunette was. “Come here...”

Ali followed the command, her focus temporarily shaken by all the creamy skin and ink looking so inviting on the couch. She took Ashlyn’s outstretched hands and knelt between the blonde’s legs, laying on top of her again and repeating the passionate kisses from a few moments earlier. It was like a rewind so they could start over, this time with nothing between their smooth skin at all. It didn’t take more than a few minutes of making out and groping to get Ali back on track. She let her mouth lead the charge again, beginning her trek down the long, lean body of her magnificent wife. She was impatient now though, regretting the stoppage, unavoidable as it had been. She spent several minutes on Ashlyn’s stiff, pink nipples, humming into them between flicks and strong sucks. The keeper kept touching as much of her beautiful brunette as she could while Ali travelled down her body. She absolutely loved the way the soft brunette locks felt as they were pulled along behind her wife’s head and that talented fucking mouth of hers. The sensation of Ali’s hair trailing over the sensitive skin of her breasts and nipples, and then her stomach, was one of Ashlyn’s very favorite feelings in the world. It didn’t happen very often because Ali preferred to have her hair out of the way when they had sex. But every once in a while she didn’t bother to pull it back into a loose ponytail or up into a sloppy bun before they got busy. The silky strips left light, feathery touches on Ashlyn’s skin – it was almost ticklish but only in the very best possible way. It felt incredible.

Ali paid no attention to her own hair as she licked and nipped her way down to the only hair she cared about. She let her hands stay on Ashlyn’s breasts and smiled when she felt her keeper’s hand massaging her brunette head. Ashlyn moaned loudly when her wife’s hot breath finally enveloped the top of her clit. Ali pressed slow open-mouthed kisses into her keeper’s mound and then let one linger over her clit, blowing warm air there before slowly dropping her mouth even lower.

“Jesus...” Ashlyn panted and bent her knees up and out to give her wife better access. Her skin already felt alive, between Ali’s mouth and hair and hands...every part of the keeper’s body was on high alert and attuned to any slight touch, ready to amplify it through every inch of flesh.

“Oh my fucking God...” the brunette mumbled into her wife’s softest flesh when she finally got to where she really wanted to be. She inhaled deeply and felt the juices between her own legs start to pool there in response. “Mmmmmm...” she hummed into Ashlyn’s wet, waiting pussy.

Ali used her fingers to spread out her wife’s lips and allowed herself a few seconds to appreciate the beauty right in front of her face. On the one hand it was a pity that she was the only person who got to see Ashlyn’s gorgeous pussy like that. But on the other hand, that was exactly how the brunette wanted it. She wasn’t sharing that exquisite view with anybody. No fucking way. Ali smirked and felt lust rush through her system as she pressed her whole face into the soaking wet folds. She used broad licks, stroking from the bottom of Ashlyn’s entrance right up to the top of her slit. She applied different amounts of pressure with every lick and alternated them with suction as she moved back down to the bottom to start again. Ali could feel her wife’s body reacting to her ministrations – Ashlyn’s body tensed and twitched and her large hand grabbed a big fistful of dark hair, holding tightly but still allowing the brunette to move freely. 

“Fuck yes...” the keeper groaned and started to grind up into her wife’s mouth and face.

Ali had both arms wrapped around the blonde’s thighs and held her in place so she could keep up the tantalizing touches with her mouth and tongue and teeth. She pushed her tongue inside Ashlyn’s pulsing center and felt her wife arch her back at the new contact. The brunette explored inside her wife’s core with that strong tongue before pulling it back out and sucking hard again. Ali slowly moved her head from side to side, making sure her nose was giving a good teasing touch to Ashlyn’s clit at the same time. She hummed and moaned into her keeper’s sloppy, sexy lips, loving the way Ashlyn was grinding against her at the same time.

“Mmmmm...so good...Mmmmmm...”

“Shit Al, oh fuck...yes baby...yes...”

Ashlyn was surprised at how close she was already to her release. The combination of the surprise night off and Ali making it clear early on that they were definitely going to fuck that night had had more of an effect on the keeper than she realized. And Ashlyn knew her wife was worked up. The hickey was another sign that Ali was firing on all cylinders that night. There was no doubt in Ashlyn’s mind that this would be the first of many orgasms she would enjoy before they had to be parents again.

The brunette kept up her amazing work between Ashlyn’s legs, clamping her mouth down tightly and sucking hard as she slid up and down. She saw her keeper reaching for her own clit and knew it was time to bring her home. Ali pushed her wife’s hand away and moved her lips up to lick an ever-tightening circle around the sensitive nub. Ashlyn pressed the brunette head into her clit harder, looking for more contact. 

“Right there...fuck!” Ashlyn shouted and started to tug on her own nipple with her free hand, using her other hand to hold Ali right where she wanted her.

“Mmmm...” Ali hummed. “I’ve got you baby...”

The brunette pushed back against her keeper’s hand so she could move her mouth back down to her pussy. She quickly brought a hand over to pick up the clit work while diving back into the drenched lips, sucking and nibbling and flicking and fucking with everything she had. 

“Oh Jesus...Yes!” Ashlyn’s legs were bent up and flopping out to her sides like a rag doll, completely forgotten as she chased her fast-building orgasm. “Fuck! Don’t stop baby...don’t stop...” her words were slurred as she panted them out.

The fast, steady pressure on Ashlyn’s swollen clit was exactly what she needed and wanted. But then Ali added strong thrusts with her tongue up into her wife’s g-spot that made Ashlyn let out a low, long, throaty groan.

“Mmmmm...Mmmmm...” Ali kept up her own loud moaning, knowing each vibration brought pleasure to her keeper.

It only took another minute of all the delicious stimulation for Ashlyn to come hard. She uttered a clipped, almost anguished cry as her orgasm swept over her. Her body convulsed and she slammed her thighs together without a thought for her wife’s head still between them. She grabbed Ali’s hand from her clit and squeezed it as her body rocked through the spasms. Ashlyn rolled over to her right, facing the room, still with her wife’s head between her thighs. She was vaguely aware of light patting on her leg as she started to come down from her high. 

“Oh shit” she suddenly realized what was happening. “Fuck, I’m sorry...” she lifted her top leg up and freed Ali’s head.

“Damn” the brunette chuckled, her face bright red from exertion and the heat between her wife’s legs. “Try to kill me, why don’t you?”

Relief washed over the blonde and she dropped her head back down to the couch and laughed with her wife. Ali held Ashlyn’s top leg up against the back of the couch and stayed where she was, lightly kissing the inside of both thighs and chuckling at the predicament she had just found herself in.

“I thought that was your spot?” Ashlyn teased, still slightly out of breath and grinning like a fool. “What? You don’t like it anymore?”

“Hey, don’t be messing with my spot” the brunette teased back, nipping the soft skin and making Ashlyn yelp.

“Ow! Ok, ok” the keeper laughed and propped her head up on the throw pillow so she could see her beautiful brunette still between her legs. “Are you really ok baby? I’m so sorry” she reached down and gently petted Ali’s head.

“Yeah, I’m fine” she chuckled again, looking up at her wife with a huge smile. “You once said if you were gonna die you’d want it to be between my thighs” she grinned as she remembered. “I get it” she laughed. “That’s how I wanna go too.”

They lay there together for a few more minutes, holding hands near Ashlyn’s left hip as Ali continued to tenderly clean her girl up.

“See? We didn’t need to go upstairs after all” Ashlyn giggled. “Told you.”

“Yeah, yeah, you were right” Ali laughed as she sat up on her knees. “Except your present is still up there” she wagged her eyebrows and grinned.

“Oooh, I love presents” Ashlyn’s eyes sparkled. “Can we do them now?”

“I don’t know, can you walk yet?” Ali smirked.

“Now who’s cocky?” the keeper rolled her eyes and chuckled. “You always call me cocky but I’ve got nothing on you tonight.”

“Well, I did just make you come so hard you almost killed me. So...” she smirked again and then laughed.

Ashlyn was struck again by how beautiful her naked wife was, getting a good view of her and enjoying the way her small breasts bounced as she laughed. If they didn’t go get the naughty gifts now there was a very real chance that they wouldn’t get them at all, and the keeper knew it.

“I really wanna give you your present now” Ashlyn blinked softly at her beautiful brunette. “Can I?”

Ali returned the loving look, tilting her head to the side just a bit and blinking back adoringly.

“Yeah, let’s go” she nodded as they got up off the couch. “But stay naked” she added a last-minute requirement. “And hurry up.”

“Somebody still needs to get off” Ashlyn winked knowingly at her horny wife. “Got it.”

They held hands and went upstairs, separating at the top of the front stairs in the second-floor hall. Ashlyn continued up to her studio and Ali watched her go before going to their bedroom to retrieve her hidden present for her wife. They reunited on their bed less than 3 minutes later, both happy to see each other again. They each held medium sized gift bags in their hands and exchanged them with excited giggles.

“Open yours first” Ashlyn instructed as she scooted closer to her wife, not wanting any distance between their bodies if she could help it. 

They were sitting facing each other, less than 2’ apart, with their legs overlapping each other at the thigh. There was barely room for the gift bags between them after Ashlyn moved in. Ali leaned in and kissed her keeper’s lips when she saw her move closer.

“Ok. Let’s see what we have in here” she began pulling green and red tissue paper out of the Christmasy gift bag. “Oh, Ash, really?” she looked up quickly at her wife so she could try to read her face. “Are you sure?”

“Honey, I’m totally sure” it was Ashlyn’s turn to lean in for a kiss. “Are those the right kind? They looked the same but everything was in Japanese so it was hard to tell.”

Ali got emotional as she pulled two packages of the Japanese wrapping ribbons she liked out of the gift bag. They were both purple, to match the two Ali already had, but each was a different width. Ashlyn had been supportive of her new interest the couple of times they had tried it, but she knew the blonde would do that, no matter what. Ali had wondered if her wife really liked being wrapped up or if she was just being nice about it.

“Yeah, these are the same kind” Ali nodded shyly, keeping her eyes down, overwhelmed by emotion.

“Are they the wrong size or something?” Ashlyn frowned, wondering where she had messed up. “What’s the matter? I can return them, I think.”

“No, they’re great, they’re perfect” Ali looked up quickly, not wanting Ashlyn to worry about that.

“Then why do you look miserable?” the keeper reached out and lifted her wife’s head up, fingers beneath her chin. “What’s going on honey?”

“Are you really ok with this? With me wrapping you up?” she asked softly, blushing a bit.

“Al, are you kidding me?” Ashlyn shook her head and had a hard time hiding her exasperation. “We’ve talked about this before” she cocked her head in challenge. “More than once.”

“Ok, ok, you’re right” Ali closed her eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry. I just...I know you’d agree to do it even if you didn’t like it and I’m afraid that’s what’s going on.”

“And I’ve told you before that I do really like it and that’s not what I’m doing. Right?”

“Yeah” the brunette nodded, chin still in her wife’s hand, and opened her eyes again. “Ok” she took a deep breath and gave Ashlyn a shy smile. “Ok, I’ll stop being weird about it.”

“You promise?”

“I promise” she giggled when she saw her wife’s dimpled grin. “You’re so sweet to me Ash. Thank you.”

“Trust me baby, sweet has nothing to do with it” she chuckled and smirked. “You have no idea how sexy you look when you’re using these on me” she fanned herself and pretended to fight off a fainting spell. “This is one of the most selfish gifts I’ve ever given you. Trust me.”

“You wanna know something funny?”

“I do, as long as it has to do with sex and our special presents...”

“It does, it does” Ali laughed and let Ashlyn pull her in for another kiss. “I got some of these for you too, for Christmas...”

“You did?!” Ashlyn interrupted and started to open her own gift bag.

“No, no” Ali laughed and stopped her from looking inside yet. “I mean, yes, I got them for you but then I chickened out. I went and got you something else instead” she laughed again.

“What? Woman, for somebody so smart you can be very not smart sometimes” Ashlyn teased and chuckled. “Wait, so my present’s in here and it’s not the ribbons you got for me?”

“Right” Ali nodded and smiled.

“That means instead of the two we had before, I got you two more and you got me...how many more?”

“Two more” Ali giggled when she realized where her wife was going.

“So we have 6 wraps now?” the keeper’s heart skipped a beat at the enticing thought. “Wow. Merry Christmas to us!”

“Yeah, now all I have to do is learn how to wrap you up” she giggled again. “You know, so it’s actually fun and not torture for you.”

“Oh it’s fun for me, trust me” the keeper grinned lasciviously. “You have no idea.”

They kissed for a few minutes, relaxing in the knowledge that they both really did enjoy Ali’s new sexy times kink. When Ashlyn started to deepen the kiss and kick things up a notch, Ali pulled back.

“Wait, you have to open your present.”

“Oh yeah” Ashlyn smiled dreamily at her wife. “I almost forgot. It’s hard to think about anything else when you’re right here looking so naked and kissing me like that.”

“Hurry up then” the brunette chuckled and lifted the gift bag between them up.

Ashlyn gave her lips one more quick peck and then started opening her gift.

“I don’t know what you thought would make a better present than those ribbons” she half-teased as she worked on the gift bag. “Oh, well now...I stand corrected” she announced as she lifted out a small jar of paint and studied it with interest. “I do love to paint...”

“It’s body paint” Ali offered, unable to wait and sounding just like one of their impatient kids whenever they gave somebody a present. 

“I see that” Ashlyn nodded and laughed at how adorable her wife was. It was obvious that Ali was pleased with the gift she had given the keeper and was hoping Ashlyn would be pleased with it too. 

“There’s 4 jars, all different colors...” she explained as the blonde pulled one after another out of the bag and set them between them on the bed. “And a brush, but you can use any kind of brush, as long as you keep it clean. You’re not supposed to mix real paintbrushes that go in real paint with these...something about the chemicals never really getting cleaned out of the brush...” Ali rattled on, rapid-fire, as her excitement mounted.

“Al, I love it” Ashlyn spoke earnestly once the brunette stopped for a breath. “I love it a lot and I can’t wait to try it.”

“Yeah?” Ali beamed back at her.

“Yeah” the keeper nodded, her dimpled grin on display again. “But only if I can paint on your body, obviously.”

“Well I would hope so” Ali laughed. “If you think I’m giving you body paint to use on some other woman you’re out of your goddamned mind.”

“Just checking, just checking” Ashlyn laughed with her. “It seems a shame to paint over a masterpiece though...” she blinked lovingly at the brunette. “I’m just sayin’.”

“Ashlyn...” Ali’s heart swelled at the cheesy compliment. Ashlyn had always been able to say the sappiest things to her and get away with it because it was obvious that she meant every word sincerely. “I love you so much, honey.”

They enjoyed their romantic moment together, but in the back of both of their minds they were already trying to decide which activity they would do that night. It was already 9:30pm so they probably wouldn’t get to do both. They were always trying to find uninterrupted nights like this so they could enjoy Ali’s new kink, and now Ashlyn’s new paints. Both activities required a long time and complete privacy, neither of which would be easy to come by in their regular lives. It was a tough call to make that night but there was no wrong answer.

“I love you too, gorgeous” the keeper smiled into the kiss they shared, pushing the decision away for another few moments. “Merry Christmas.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope all is well with the Krieger family. Kyle's tweet about a family emergency and Ali's absence from the National team this week sure make it seem like that is not the case though.


	19. January Socializing

January 8th, 2033 was the first year Ali and Ashlyn Krieger ever hosted their Epiphany party. It was for neighbors only, and grown-ups only, and it would go on to become one of the favorite events the residents of Beach Rd attended each year. Ashlyn had come up with the idea of getting the neighbors together more routinely because she was starting to feel everybody drifting apart after they had rallied together to get rid of the horrible Pitmans 2 years earlier. They saw a lot of each other in the summer months when everybody made their way down to the beach a couple of times a week, at least. But the keeper wanted to invite everybody over for a dinner party in January or February, to try and maintain those good neighborly relations all year round. Ali had suggested the Epiphany party because she loved celebrating it and thought it was a fun holiday that many different cultures acknowledged. It was religious, but not too religious. And it happened in the blissful time after the hectic Christmas rush that wiped everyone out no matter how far in advance they seemed to get started.

They chose the Saturday night after epiphany for the party and invited all of the neighbors on their street, specifying that it was a potluck dinner party and a yankee swap gift exchange. From the top of the street, across the street, down to the Inn that sat on the corner of Beach Rd and Nautilus Rd, right across from the Good Harbor Beach access bridge, the neighbors were:

Ann and Tim McPhail - #13 Beach Rd.  
The McPhails were notorious in the neighborhood for playing their music and tvs too loud. They were one of the families with kids closer in age to the younger Krieger children. They had 2 boys, 16 and 11 with a 14-year old girl in between. The girl was a year ahead of Drew in school and the youngest boy was a year between Josie and the twins. They had played together more when they were younger but still joined in the neighborhood pick-up games and capture the flag or freeze tag and other fun games. They were nice enough people but a bit too conservative, politically speaking, for Ali and Ashlyn to feel completely comfortable with, especially when it came to the kids. Ann and Tim were Catholic and both struggled with the idea of same-sex marriage and LGBTQ parents having children. They had been raised to believe it was a sin against God. Living in the same neighborhood as the Kriegers had done more to open the McPhails’ eyes and educate them than anything else possibly could have. Ali and Ashlyn had single-handedly almost changed their minds about the church’s position on both topics. 

Phyllis and Joel Goldman - #11 Beach Rd.  
The Goldmans were one of the families on the street who were very close to the Donaldsons. The Goldmans, Donaldsons, Barrys, and Evanses all had kids that were the same age, now in their very late teens and early 20s, who had all gone to school together. The parents had bonded when the kids were in elementary school and had been the foundation of the neighborhood for the past 15 years. The Goldmans had two girls and were widely recognized as having the best landscaping on the entire street.

Dina and Pedro Rivera - #9 Beach Rd.  
Dina’s mother, Mrs. Ortiz, lived with them and stayed home during the day to help with the kids. There were two kids, 8-year old twin boys, close in age to the Krieger twins, and two kids who were older. The twins had been a straight-up accident and the Riveras’ entire lives had been turned upside down when they found out they’d be having newborns to go along with their 16-year old son & 17-year old daughter. 

Claudia and Dennis Irving - #7 Beach Rd.  
The newest neighbors, the young family who had moved into old Mrs. Ornstein’s house last April with their adorable little girls. 3-year old Emery and 1-year old Avery.

Robin and Brad Evans - #5 Beach Rd.  
The longest-lived feud on the street was still being waged between the Barrys and the Evanses and it all stemmed from something that had happened when their kids were in high school together. Ali and Ashlyn were sure that Julie and Neil Donaldson knew exactly what it was about but respected their next-door neighbors even more for keeping it to themselves. The Donaldsons had always remained neutral about the rift among the former close friends and neighbors and it was a true testament to their character. The Evans children were just as grown up as the Donaldsons and Goldmans and Barrys. Robin and Brad had a 25-year old son who was best friends with and the same age as Justin Donaldson, and a 21-year old daughter. 

The neighbors on Ali and Ashlyn’s side of the street, from the top down to Nautilus Rd, were:

June and Ed Barry - #10 Beach Rd.  
June was a very successful and influential real estate broker for all of Cape Ann. She specialized in the biggest and most expensive homes, especially the ones along the ocean, and was very well-respected and admired for both her interpersonal skills as well as her business acumen. Ali had met June a few times in her previous life as a window saleswoman. She had made a good impression and June had asked her to give her a price for replacing the windows in her own house on Beach Rd, which Ali did. But after a lot of back and forth, June ultimately decided to go with another type of window and just stopped returning Ali’s phone calls. The first few times Ali and June had met after the brunette moved into the big old house had been awkward, to say the least. June appropriately felt awful for the way she had handled it – she used the excuse of being so busy and not making time to correctly close the loop with the younger saleswoman. Ali forgave her easily enough, especially once she heard how the windows June had chosen had only lasted a few years before leaking like the crap that they were. The brunette didn’t like to see anybody suffer, but when people asked her for her advice and then ignored there was a feeling of justice that Ali couldn’t help but enjoy – just a little bit. The Barrys had two sons, both in their early 20s.

Julie and Neil Donaldson - #8 Beach Rd.  
The best next-door neighbors in the world with three kids. 25-year old Justin, 21-year old Emma, and 18-year old Micky.

Ashlyn and Ali Krieger - #6 Beach Rd.

The empty Krieger lot - #4 Beach Rd.

Cathy and Stan Van Auck who had the corner lot and whose address was technically on Nautilus Rd.   
The Van Aucks were the wealthiest family in the neighborhood and they could be standoffish at first. But once you got to know them they were good neighbors and kind people. Their family had owned the huge house for several generations and they would pass it down to one of their four grown children, all in their 30’s, at some point too.

The biggest decision for the very first Epiphany party was whether or not to invite their backyard neighbors on Harbor Rd. Both Ali and Ashlyn disliked Mr. Woods so much that they decided to keep the whole street out of their little party. They might reconsider next year, especially if not enough people attended from Beach Rd. Life was too short to have to deal with constantly complaining Mr. Woods, even for just one night. Nobody would miss Larry or Elaine Woods. 

It was an interesting group of people gathered together in the big old house that January night. They had been brought together by proximity but had grown closer out of their shared desire to fight the bigotry and hatred that had threatened their neighborhood, courtesy of the Pitmans. The young Irvings were too new to know much of the terrible history their neighbors had all lived through back in 2030 & 2031\. The more they heard about the horrible Pitmans, the more grateful they were that they had missed them. 

“It sure explains why the house was less expensive than the others we looked at” Claudia Irving commented halfway through the evening with wide eyes. “I can’t believe they were that awful.”

“I knew there was more to the story” Dennis Irving shook his head in frustration. “I could just smell it, you know?” he asked rhetorically, the commercial real estate professional feeling especially duped by the circumstances surrounding their purchase of old Mrs. Ornstein’s house.

The parents with young kids talked about who was babysitting for them that night.

“I don’t know what we’d have done without my mother” Dina Rivera acknowledged Mrs. Ortiz who was home with their two youngest. “I can’t believe our twins are 8 already” she shook her head in disbelief. “It seems like just yesterday we brought them home and she moved in.”

“How’s your mom doing Ali?” Ann McPhail asked. Her youngest was a 5th grader at East Gloucester Elementary school and had relayed the news from the Krieger twins.

“She’s doing ok, thanks” the brunette smiled softly. “She’s going back down to Miami at the end of the month and we’ll see how it goes” she shrugged. “Whatever she wants to do, we’ll do.”

“We all know she wants to move up here and be with her grandkids” Julie Donaldson laughed, but everybody knew she was right.

“Be careful” Pedro Rivera cautioned with a knowing look. He received daggers back from his wife’s eyes before continuing anyway. “I’m not complaining and there’s no way we could have made it work with our twins without her mom” he nodded respectfully at his wife. “But it’s not always easy having your mother-in-law living with you. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Who’s got a couch Pedro can crash on for a few days?” Joel Goldman, his next-door neighbor, joked.

Everybody laughed and Ashlyn exchanged a quick look with her wife as they got ready to start the Yankee Swap gift exchange portion of the evening. The time flew by as the group ate, drank, and participated in the gift game. Everybody loosened up as the alcohol flowed but only Robin Evans seemed to get drunk. The group had managed to avoid addressing the rift between the Evanses and the Barrys and they were all relieved about it. Nobody liked to dwell in that headspace – nothing good ever came out of the rare conversation on the topic. Julie was the first to notice her good friend Robin’s compromised state and did her best to steer her back to sobriety. The nurse could tell that Robin’s loose lips were about to drag them all down that painful road that led back 4-5 years when their kids had been in high school.

“That was a close call tonight” Ashlyn raised her eyebrows and blew out a breath as she and Ali cleaned up after everyone had gone home late Saturday night. “I thought Robin and June were definitely gonna spill their guts.”

“Me too” Ali agreed with a chuckle. “I mean, I’m glad they didn’t because the party would have been ruined, but part of me is still dying to know what the hell happened between their families.”

“I still can’t believe Julie hasn’t told us anything. After 4 years!” the keeper shook her head in amazement. “It’s gotta be something huge.” 

“I love the way all those kids grew up together on this street” Ali spoke a couple of minutes later when they were both in the kitchen rinsing dishes and loading the dishwasher. “9 kids in those four families, and they’re all still close, well...except for the Barrys.”

“It’s sad that they couldn’t get past whatever happened.”

Both women were quiet for a few minutes, minds whirling around the subject that had occupied so much of their post-party conversation. It was clear to both Ali and Ashlyn that the rift between the Barrys and Evanses had been a major deterrent to neighborhood parties like the one they had just hosted. Hopefully, tonight’s successful soiree would allow other similar gatherings to take place in the future as well.

“You don’t think that would ever happen with us, do you?” Ali asked as she closed the dishwasher and leaned against it looking tentatively at her wife. “I mean with our group...Syd and Whit and Niki...?”

“Nah” Ashlyn dried her hands on the dishtowel and frowned at the idea before turning to face her beautiful but worried brunette. “We’ve been friends for so long...and not just because of where our houses are” she gave Ali a soft smile. “We were friends before we were even married. I’m pretty sure there’s nothing we can’t work out, whatever it is” her smile grew bigger as the brunette leaned up and kissed her lips, wrapping her arms around the keeper’s lower back and pulling her into a hug.

“Yeah” Ali agreed, tucking her forehead into Ashlyn’s neck and continuing the embrace. “I think you’re right.”

//

The other big social event that January was the wedding of Kristie Mewis and Rachel Daly, on Saturday January 22, 2033. They had been living together, with Kristie’s two girls from her previous marriage, down on the South Shore of Massachusetts for exactly 3 years that month. Kristie would be turning 42 in another month and Rachel had just turned 41 in December, and neither of them had been in any real rush to get married. But Melissa Mewis, Kristie and Sam’s mother, was losing her most recent battle with breast cancer and Kristie wanted to have the wedding for her mom and with her mom. Mama Mewis’ failing health had been the motivating factor and the two brides had pulled together a small but beautiful wedding in short order. Just as they had moved into a house down in Kristie’s hometown of Hanson, MA to be near her parents, Rachel and Kristie arranged the wedding on the South Shore too. They wanted everything to be as easy for Kristie’s mom as possible. 

Sam Mewis had played on the USWNT for 14 years, retiring at the end of the 2027. She was one of the most popular members of the team and Melissa Mewis, her mom, had become one of the most popular USWNT parents in the process. She was much beloved and her two previous battles with breast cancer had been documented and discussed widely among women’s soccer players and fans and pundits alike. Melissa Mewis was also famous for wearing her custom-made dual jersey when her two daughters played against each other in the NWSL, half Boston Breakers and half North Carolina Courage. The joke, started and carried on by Mama Mewis herself, was that she had been the one that had fueled that competitive fire in both her daughters in the first place. Bob Mewis was the soccer expert and tactical wizard and had taught both his daughters the finer points of the beautiful game when they were just girls. But the whole family willingly admitted that Melissa was the most competitive one of them all. She said that she was never more proud of her girls than when she watched them play against each other. She knew, as only a mother could, that both Kristie and Sam wanted desperately to beat each other. Playing their sister made the game that much bigger and afforded the winner bragging rights that were fully used and inflicted on the loser mercilessly until the next time they faced off on the NWSL pitch. And, in true motherly fashion, Melissa ardently hoped that her daughters’ teams could alternate winning, for everybody’s well-being. The joke that had begun long before she had been diagnosed the first time back in 2016 was that Mama Mewis wanted to be buried in that dual jersey that she loved so much. Displaying her pride in both daughters forevermore. 

Melissa Mewis hadn’t looked happier in months than she did that cold January day. She sat turned around in the front row pew of the church and beamed as her four young grandchildren ambled down the aisle. The 3 granddaughters, 6-year old Ellie Scheffler, almost 4-year old Charlie Scheffler, and just turned 2-year old Missy Johnson, were all dressed up beautifully and carrying baskets that held the flower petals they were dropping as they made their way towards the front of the church. 4-1/2 year old Robbie Johnson, the only boy in the bunch, followed after them with his own important duty – carrying the small pillow with the wedding rings tied tightly to it. Kristie’s sister Sam, and her best friend Steph McCaffrey – the Sporting Chic trio, stood by her side while Rachel’s brother Andy, and her best friend from England did the same for the Brit. It was a small but wonderful wedding and the ceremony was short and sweet, letting everyone get to the reception where they could relax and enjoy each other’s company for the rest of the night.

“You know you were my #3, I told you before” Kristie grinned as she slung her arm around Sydney Leroux Dwyer’s shoulders from the seat next to her at the table. 

The newlywed was making the rounds towards the end of the reception while Rachel did the same with her own friends. Kristie had saved the table full of former soccer players whom she still coached with at The Academy every summer for last so she could spend more time with them before making her grand exit with her new wife. Everyone at the table was at least buzzed if not a little drunk, with a couple of friends well on the way to completely drunk. It was a fun and festive atmosphere, full of friendship and loving, sometimes hysterical, memories.

“Yeah, whatever” Sydney teased, rolling her eyes and finishing her drink with a laugh. “That’s what you said last time.”

The truth was that Kristie and Sydney had become very good friends as the years had passed and their friendship had only deepened as Sydney had stood by her friend’s side during her messy divorce back in 2029. If Kristie and Rachel hadn’t been keeping the wedding small and simple, Sydney would absolutely have been one of the bridesmaids this time.

“You can have it” Stephanie McCaffrey joked. “She’s a total pain in the ass. Such a fucking diva...”

“Like she didn’t already have a big, huge, princess wedding no less” Sam Mewis added with a playful roll of her eyes, ribbing her sister as always. “Like, you know the drill, why do you have to be so dramatic about everything?”

The rest of the table erupted in laughter, enjoying the familiar show of 2 of the 3 Sporting Chic gals teasing the shit out of the other one. It was just how they were and everyone knew there was nothing but love behind all of the barbs. The conversation naturally turned to more mundane things as the group of women, mostly moms, all in their 40s, relaxed and drank and laughed.

“Oh my God, you guys...” did I tell you what Ellie’s routine was for the Christmas concert?” Kristie’s eyes were huge as her face broke into an enormous grin at the month-old memory of her 6-year old daughter. 

“Singing, dancing, gymnastics?” Sydney asked for clarification, “What are we talking about here?”

“No, it was like a talent show thing. She could have picked any of that, and Rach and I both thought she’d show off her latest tumbling routine for sure...”

“Oh no” Sam laughed and slapped her hand down on the top of the table as she realized what her sister was talking about. “This was awesome!”

The table offered a handful of viable possibilities involving singing a song, doing a dance, breaking out gymnastics maneuvers and other fun activities that their own kids had enjoyed ‘performing’ when they were 6 years old.

“Nope” Kristie laughed again, shaking her head as the guesses slowed down. “Freaking belly dancer. That’s right. My kid dressed up in veils and the whole 9 yards and did a belly dance!”

“Well, you know, you set your goals and you go for ‘em I guess” Whitney laughed along with everybody else. “Was it a good belly dance at least?”

“If you mean good as in standing still and just moving your arms like you’re trying to do a hula dance from the waist up only, but not quite pulling it off, then yes, she was outstanding!” Sam answered with more loud guffaws. 

“Where did she even get the idea from?” Ashlyn’s eyebrows were both up in wonder. “I mean, where is she seeing belly dancing?”

“You and Rach figured out how to lock the bedroom door, right?” Steph McCaffrey joked again. “We don’t have to have that talk again, do we?”

The group spent the next 10 minutes hotly debating which of the newlyweds was the best belly dancer in the family before things calmed down a bit.

“Didn’t she say she wanted to be a dancer when she grew up?” Sam asked, squinting to try and remember the details from her eldest niece’s kindergarten graduation event at school back in June. “Did she write down which kind?”

“What?” Kristie scrunched her face up, trying to call the memory up in her mind. “Oh my God, she did! She said ballet dancer though.”

“Poor thing must have gotten confused...I wonder how that happened?” Steph quipped.

Most kindergarten classes had the kids write down or draw a picture of what they wanted to be when they grew up. Sometimes the declarations were hung up on the wall for the graduation event so all the parents and family members could see their work. Some teachers branched off and did similar exercises, asking the kids to write down or draw their favorite book and things like that too. It was always a big hit with the families and the 5-year olds loved doing it. It was a rite of passage for almost all graduating kindergarteners, regardless of where in the country they lived. It took some of the moms at the reception with older kids a few minutes to think back that far, but not too long.

“Can anyone beat garbage man?” Niki Cross asked with a confident smirk, chuckling as soon as she finished speaking.

“Who?”

“Noah” Molly nodded with her own giggle. “We were so proud, our first child had such mighty aspirations.”

“Not that there’s anything wrong with being a garbage man” Niki quickly added, unnecessarily defending her wife and herself to people who knew better than to think the Crosses judged working class people in any way.

“No!” Molly added, anguished to think they might sound like snobs. “It was just such a random...surprise I guess. We don’t even have garbage men in Arlington. We have to take our trash to the dump ourselves.”

“Becca said soccer player, then crossed it out and wrote lacrosse player, then crossed that out and wrote soccer player again” Whitney shared with a warm smile. “So I’m thinking athlete of some kind...whatever sport she finally settles on.”

“What about Tommy?” Ashlyn asked with a gleam in her eye. “What’s he gonna say in 5 months when he’s graduating kindergarten?”

“Honestly?” the lawyer flinched just the tiniest bit, so subtle that nobody besides her closest of best friends noticed it. She made her face smile again and spoke. “He thinks doctors are pretty cool right now.” There was a brief pause before Whitney shrugged and took a bigger than usual drink. “We’ll see I guess.”

“Does lion tamer beat garbage man or belly dancer?” Sydney offered her story before the awkward pause returned.

“Cassius said he was gonna be a lion tamer?!” Kristie cackled. “I love it!”

“Oh no” Sydney chuckled. “James did.”

“What?”  
“No way!”  
“But he’s so shy.”

“He’s the chillest of my boys” the coach explained, “but he loved that book about the lion tamer and that was that.”

“So what did Cassius want to be?” Niki asked.

“Soccer player” Sydney nodded proudly. 

“And Maddox?” Sam inquired next.

“Mailman” the coach replied to stunned silence. “I know, I know...but I swear I’m not mixing up James and Mads.”

“Someone needs to step up and explain that mailmen are going to be obsolete soon...” Kristie offered helpfully.

“We’re good” Sydney playfully waved her friend off. “He changed his mind every week for the next two years after that.” 

“Drew wanted to be a teacher” Ali smiled. “He was nervous about going to school, no surprise there. His teacher was so wonderful that he got a crush on her and I think that’s where that came from” she shrugged and chuckled. “It didn’t last long.”

“Josie’s was the best!” Ashlyn laughed.

“Oh yeah!” Whitney joined her. “This is my favorite.”

“When we got there and found her paper on the wall...” the keeper started to tell the story.

“Covered with lots of pictures and colors, of course” Ali added.

“Of course” Ashlyn winked at her and grinned. “Hers said businesswoman. It was the longest word used for that exercise in the entire history of the school!”

“What 5-year old uses the word businesswoman?” Steph McCaffrey asked in disbelief.

“I know! That’s what we said too” the keeper continued. “Her teacher pulled us aside and told us that Josie had originally written down boss lady...”

Ashlyn had to wait for the raucous laughter to die down before she could keep going with the story.

“Atta girl Jo Jo” Sydney praised through her laughter. “That’s my goddaughter” she proudly reminded everyone.

“Josie is a mini-Ali and has always wanted to do everything her mommy did” Ashlyn picked up the story again. “So she didn’t have a name for what Al does, so she just used ‘boss lady’ because that’s what we call her when we talk about her work at home.”

“Her teacher helped her out” the brunette nodded, confirming the funny story. “And probably saved me a shit ton of embarrassment.”

“What about Penny?” Sydney looked to Niki and Molly. 

“Astronaut” Molly beamed. “I have no idea where it came from. Garbage man or teacher make a lot more sense” she laughed. “But I’ll take astronaut any day.”

“And Evan? What did your shy guy write down back in kindergarten?”

“Soccer player” Niki grinned. “He’s the least athletic or coordinated of our 3, but he said soccer player back then and I am here for it!”

It was no coincidence that at least one child in each family had said soccer player. That is except for the Kriegers.

“So who’s your soccer player then?” Kristie asked the Kriegers.

“Yeah, we don’t have one” both Ali and Ashlyn giggled. “At least not when they were 5 years old” the keeper clarified hopefully. “Dodge is the soccer player, I think we all know that. But back then he wanted to be a builder.”

“He was in love with George, the builder who works on the house” Ali explained. “But as soon as he met Officer Fulkerson he’s wanted to be a police officer ever since.”

“Lemme guess, Lily still doesn’t know what she wanted to be back when she was in kindgergarten, and it’s been 4 whole years” Whitney asked with a knowing smirk.

“She is consistently inconsistent” the keeper smiled. “You can plan on it.”

“Her sign had two drawings and two job titles” Ali picked up the conversation. “Dora the Explorer or Doc McStuffins.”

They kept going, sharing stories of the other 3 Mewis kids before wearing the topic out and moving on to other things. Rachel Daly came over shortly thereafter and the couple got ready to make their exit for the night. 

“Your mom looks beautiful” Ali gave Sam’s arm a warm squeeze as they shared a quiet moment outside the ladies room. “I mean, considering...”

“She really does, doesn’t she?” Sam smiled back at the kind brunette. “Sometimes, especially these days, all I see when I look at her is her skull” the tall woman closed her eyes and clenched her jaw to try and get the image out of her mind. “You know, the way somebody who’s really sick gets so skinny you can see their bones almost through their skin?”

“Yeah” Ali nodded. “I’m so sorry Sam.”

“I think she had a lot of fun tonight. I know she did.”

“I think you’re right” the brunette gave Sam a hug.

“I’m sorry about your step-dad” Sam said as they pulled apart. “I haven’t seen you since it happened...”

“You’re so sweet” Ali tilted her head and gave the former midfielder a soft nod of gratitude. “I got your card. It was good of you to send it. Thank you.”

“It was his heart, right?”

“Yeah” Ali nodded, her voice as serious as the subject matter. “This one was bigger and worse than the one before. At least he didn’t suffer for very long. I try to keep that in mind.”

“How’s your mom doing? It must be so hard for her, being alone now.”

“It is, but she’s doing ok” the brunette spoke carefully, understanding that the younger woman was trying to prepare herself for how to help her own father go through his upcoming grief. “The whole thing has been hard, but she’s strong and she knows she’s not alone.”

“God, I do not look forward to watching my dad go through that. I’d rather die myself than do that.”

Ali felt her heart tug as she watched a flurry of strong emotions flash across Sam’s face.

“It’s brutal, honestly” the brunette admitted quietly. “She’s stronger than me most days, but sometimes she just gets sad and doesn’t know what to do with herself.”

“What happens then?”

“If she’s up here with us she just comes over to the house and hangs out with the kids. They seem to be the only medicine that works for my mom these days.”

“That’s what Kristie and I are kinda planning. We’ll have him come stay with us, like a month at a time or something like that” she hastily explained. “Then he won’t have to be alone at all.”

“That sounds good, but that’s not always the best way to help your mom or dad” Ali tried to explain what she had learned over the past 2-1/2 months with her own mother. “As hard as it is, you have to let them come to you. At least that’s how it’s been with my mom. I know everybody’s different, but what I’ve read and then seen with my mom is that they don’t like to be told what to do and taken in like they’re about to die themselves.”

“My dad’s pretty independent...we know he’s gonna fight us on it” Sam acknowledged with worry in her voice.

“My mom is too. You guys will figure it out, what works best for your family” she smiled kindly at the younger woman and tried to decide how much detail to go into. “Keeping my mom busy and active with the kids has been great for us. She loves spending time with them and we can always use the help” she chuckled, trying to lighten the mood a bit. “But it takes time. My mom hasn’t even cleaned out Mike’s clothes yet. She’s left everything the same, the way it was when he died” Ali chewed her bottom lip for a second. “But she’s not ready yet” she shrugged. “So we wait.”

They talked for a few more minutes and the brunette made sure Sam felt comfortable getting back in touch for more advice if she needed or wanted it. Ali promised to send the Mewis sisters the short list of books she’d read about helping a grieving parent learn to live alone. The truth was there was no guidebook to help you figure it out because everybody dealt with grief differently. But Ali always felt better when she armed herself with some research and was pretty sure Sam was the same way.

“I was worried that all the activity from the wedding would be too much on her, or too hard for us all to go through...too painful, you know?” Sam looked questioningly at the brunette. “But now I think it was the best thing we could have done. She got to see almost everybody she cares about, one last time before...” her voice hitched and she squeezed her eyes shut as she fought off the tears that had sprung to their corners without any warning. “Shit...” her face crumbled as her emotions swiftly took over. “I’m sorry...”

“Shhh...it’s ok...” Ali gave her a big hug, thankful that the ladies room was a hallway and two corners away from the rest of the party. 

Sam broke down and Ali held her, using her eyes to tell the concerned three or four women who came and went into the ladies room that everything was alright. Both Sydney and Ashlyn were closer to Sam than Ali was, but neither of them had cared for a grieving parent before. Ali was close with all three of the Sporting Chic women and she was glad to be able to comfort Sam a bit that night. She wished there was more she could do to help.

“Hey” Steph McCaffrey’s voice, thick with her Boston accent, reached them as softly as Ali had ever heard it. She had come around the corner, on her way to the ladies room, and stepped right up to one of her two best friends in the entire world. “You ok?” she asked as Sam blindly moved her arms from around Ali’s body to around Steph’s.

“I don’t want her to die...” she whispered through tears, grasping her bestie tightly. “I don’t want him to be all alone...”

Ali tried to block the view of anybody who might walk down the hallway while she wondered what else she could do for her distraught friend. She was about to text Ashlyn and Sydney but before she could get her phone out of her fashionable clutch purse she heard Steph’s voice, still so much softer than ever.

“Listen, nobody wants that, right?” she pulled her head back from the hug to try and get a better look at Sam. Her words continued, filled with kindness and love. “But we can’t fall apart right now, remember? We’ve gotta be strong tonight for your mom, yeah?”

“Yeah” Sam nodded and sniffled. Ali handed some tissues from her purse to Steph who gave one to Sam. 

“And we want Kristie to have a fun reception...”

“Oh God, did anybody see me?” Sam stood up straight and looked around quickly. “Anybody that will tell her?”

“No, you’re good” Steph reassured her. “I’ll make sure Kristie knows you’re ok if anybody says anything. Don’t worry” she gave her another tissue and watched her friend dab at her eyes and blow her nose as she collected herself. “But somebody’ll come walking down this hallway soon...”

“You’re right” Sam agreed. “I’m ok. Do I look ok? Is my mascara all over my face?”

“I’ve got some in my purse if you need more” Ali offered and ushered the two women towards the bathroom. “We’ll get your make-up back in shape in no time.”

“I don’t know Krieger” Steph gave her a skeptical look to accompany the return of her normal sarcastic voice. “I think you’ve done more than enough already. For fuck’s sake.”

Both Ali and Sam laughed as they repositioned themselves in front of the mirror inside the bathroom.

“No, she was helping me” Sam tried to defend Ali even though they all knew Steph was just teasing. “She was giving me advice about my dad...”

“Oh shit, that’s right” Steph’s eyes went wide. “Sorry about your mom’s husband.”

“Thanks” Ali replied as she handed Sam her mascara and some wet paper towels for her cheeks. “It’s a long day and I’m sure you two have been the ones holding everything together, for everybody.”

“This is harder than I thought it was gonna be” Steph spoke quietly again. “I’m having a tough time and I don’t know how you’re doing this Sammy.”

They were quiet for a couple of minutes, letting another woman come in and leave again.

“Did you see that look on her face?”

“Whose? Kristie’s?” Steph asked, confused.

“No, my mom” Sam smiled as she thought about it. “She looked so happy. I mean really truly happy. I haven’t seen her look like that...for a while now” her bottom lip trembled.

“Hey, don’t start crying again, Jesus...” Steph poked her in the ribs and then patted her bestie to make sure she knew how much she loved her despite the reprimand. “We just got your face put back together. Don’t fuck it up now.”

“I won’t, I’m ok” Sam chuckled as her face brightened. She took a deep breath and gave Ali her mascara back with an appreciative smile. “This day has been wicked hard, but seeing that look on my mom’s face was worth every minute of it. I’d do it all again tomorrow for her if she’d let me.”

“I know you would” Steph gave her a side hug as they walked down the hallway back towards the reception with Ali following behind them. “Your mom does too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoping the family emergency isn't too serious, but from Kyle's tweet today it seems like it might be. Sending all the positive energy I can to the Krieger family.


	20. Florida February Vacation 2033

The February vacation week spent in Florida was very welcome by all the Kriegers. Even the kids, who had become spoiled by all their winter trips to the sunny climate, seemed extra excited about it that year. They had missed Chris Harris and his family at Christmas, but that was the norm for the holidays. The Harrises stayed at home for Christmas because the Kriegers would be coming down for vacation 7 weeks later. If Tammye and Carol wanted to come up to Gloucester for the holiday they did. They had been alternating for the past couple of years and it was working well for them. Visits up North had gotten a lot easier once they both retired. Mike Harris usually stayed in Florida too, choosing to hang with Chris and his family, as well as his companion of many years – Lydia. Their relationship hadn’t progressed past dating exclusively because neither of them wanted it to. They were committed to each other and faithful, but they both liked having their own place to live and their own time to spend with their grandchildren. It worked for them and eventually both of their families accepted that.

Ashlyn’s old Jeep had been sitting in Chris’ driveway for seven years. The big man had kept a tarp over it but not done much else to it or for it since Ashlyn and her high school bestie, Liz, had driven it down from Gloucester. The plan had always been for Ashlyn and Ali to drive it while they were down there visiting and for Johnny Harris to use it the rest of the time, once he was old enough. Ashlyn’s nephew would be turning 16 in July that year and it was time for him to start learning how to drive. It was also time to get the Jeep back in shape.

“Are you sure you even wanna bother with it?” Ashlyn asked her brother as they waved away dust and pollen after pulling the tarp off of it. It was the third day of their weeklong vacation and everybody was very comfortable with each other after the usual half day of getting over the brief awkwardness that began every reunion of extended family. “We can sell it or trade it in for something newer for him...”

“You’re not trading this Jeep in” Mike Harris walked out of the open overhead garage door towards his two adult children. “We’re fixing her up, aren’t we Johnny?” he nodded proudly at his grandson who had followed Mike to the driveway wearing an impossible to read face. He was a teenager in the throes of puberty – it was truly anybody’s guess what was going through his mind.

“Yeah” the teen agreed with a nod, his tall, skinny body coming to a halt in the driveway with the rest of the family members there.

“We’ve already been working on it for a couple of months...”

“What?”  
“You have?”

Both Ashlyn and Chris spoke at the same time, their jaws dropped in shock as they stared at their father.

“Yeah” Johnny nodded. “Pops is showing me how to rebuild the engine” he used the nickname that he had altered from ‘Papa’ which all the younger grandkids still used for Mike Harris. “We’re diagramming it first.”

Ashlyn and Chris looked at each other in disbelief for another minute before Johnny’s friend screeched his bicycle to a halt in the driveway with an expectant look on his face. Johnny slung his backpack, which had been rigged to hold a skateboard, over his shoulder and got on his own bike. One of the miracles of Ashlyn and Chris’ adult life had been the acceptance of bike helmets as standard operating gear, even for ornery teenagers. It was simply second nature to them now. They watched Johnny strap his black helmet under his chin and mount the bike.

“Where you going?” Chris asked, even though all three of the adults could have guessed very easily.

“Skate park” the boy replied plainly, without turning to look at any of the grown-ups standing in the driveway.

“Be home for dinner. We’re all going to the Neptune...” Chris began to remind him about the visit to Gram’s favorite beachside restaurant that the family tried to make once a visit, but was cut off by the teen.

“Yeah, ok.”

Chris opened his mouth to say something else as his son started to pedal away with his buddy, but Ashlyn elbowed him into silence. They rolled their eyes at each other and exchanged grins.

“Have fun J-man!” Ashlyn called out after her nephew, hoping he still thought she was cool enough to get away with using that nickname. He used to love it. She hoped he still did.

“So, what the hell dad?” Chris spoke as they turned their attention back to the old Jeep after Johnny’s departure. “When were you gonna tell me about rebuilding the engine and fixing the Jeep up?”

“I didn’t know I had to” the older man chuckled. “It’s not a secret. We’ve been working on it, here mostly, but sometimes at my place.”

“I think that’s awesome Pop” Ashlyn smiled broadly at her father. “I can’t believe he’s into it” she raised her eyebrows. “Pretty cool.”

Chris was quiet but it was obvious that he wasn’t happy. Ashlyn and her father talked for several minutes about the condition of the Jeep, the older man praising her for taking such good care of it for so many years. They walked a couple of circles around the vehicle, addressing potential concerns and areas that might be troublesome during the restoration efforts. Ashlyn was no mechanic. Not even close. But she knew how to take care of a vehicle and was smart enough to take it to a qualified mechanic for repairs. She was good with her hands and could fix some simple things around the house but she couldn’t officially be described as handy. She was curious about the way things worked and brave enough to give most repairs a try, but she had never been taught the skills required to be very successful. 

Chris was much the same way. He had spent time working in construction and learned a lot from those experiences over the years – basically learning on the job by watching other guys who knew what they were doing. He had become very handy around the house and with tools, but not machines or, specifically, engines. Their grandfather, Gram’s husband whom they called Gramps, had been a gifted mechanic who worked for the state on the Florida highways and roads. There was nothing he couldn’t fix or figure out and Ashlyn and Chris had both grown up admiring him for it. He worked hard and didn’t have a lot of time to spend with his grandkids, especially after picking up extra shifts to cover the added expenses when young Chris and Ashlyn moved in with he and Gram. 

Mike Harris had never dazzled his children with his mechanical abilities, but they knew he knew his way around machines. His father had taught him. Ashlyn and Chris had no idea what he did when they were younger – they just knew he was gone a lot. They assumed he had been working hard at a job when, in reality, he had been drinking away most of his paychecks in a bar. Mike Harris and any skills or talents he possessed didn’t exist for his children until they were grown. It was a sad state of affairs, but none of them could go back and change it. In the present, both Ashlyn and Chris were thankful for the time their dad spent with his grandkids. It could be a bitter pill to swallow sometimes though. And restoring the Jeep seemed to have struck a nerve in Chris.

“I didn’t know Johnny was such a gear head” Ashlyn said to her brother after the lengthy chat with their father.

“Neither did I” Chris replied curtly, crossing his arms and clenching his jaw.

“What’s your problem?” the keeper frowned at her brother’s hostile attitude.

“I don’t have a problem” the big man snapped.

“Ok, right” Ashlyn rolled her eyes. “You’re acting like somebody kicked over your sandcastle or something. What’d I do now? Are you mad because the Jeep is still here? Or because I brought it down here in the first place? Or because I bought a new Jeep...”

“New Jeep” Chris scoffed, waving his sister off as their father watched the argument grow. “It’s been 7 years Ash...you can stop bragging about your new, tricked-out Jeep now! For fuck’s sake” he shook his head and began moving around the driveway. He paced when he was upset too, just like his sister did. “Always gotta rub it in my face, don’t you?” he spat out angrily.

“Oh fuck you” Ashlyn replied with a scowl and more than a little heat in her voice. She was tired of the constant, long-simmering battle she had been waging with her brother over their different financial circumstances. “Don’t you ever get tired of singing that same old song? Jesus Christ, bro. I make more money than you do! I’m fucking sorry, ok?! Does that help? Does that make it all better?”

“That’s enough now, both of you...” Mike tried to intervene from the other side of the Jeep.

“I don’t care how much goddamned money you make, asshole” Chris’ eyes blazed with anger as his voice got louder. “But I hate the way you’re always holding it over my fucking head!”

“How am I holding it over your head?” Ashlyn’s eyes went wide. “You’re fucking crazy.”

“Who’s crazy?! Who’s crazy??!!” Chris shouted back. It was a low blow to bring up Ashlyn’s mild depression and PTSD but this subject had always been a touchy one for the big man. He had been living in his kid sister’s shadow for most of his adult life and sometimes it was just too much. “Are you fucking kidding me with this shit??!!”

“Knock it off! Both of you! Now!!” Mike roared as he walked around the back of the Jeep and closer to the quarrelsome pair.

The outburst from the typically quiet man got both of their attention and they came to an uncomfortable silence, casting petulant glances at each other as if they were 7 and 8 years old again. Mike stared at them both for a full minute, unsure how to handle the situation. This was the time that Gram would have brought them both to heel with some of her sharp wisdom. Tammye could put an end to their bickering too, but Mike had never been good at it. He much preferred to absent himself from the argument if possible. After several tense minutes of awkward quiet had passed among them all, and Mike could no longer put off saying...something, he finally spoke.

“Why don’t you want me and Johnny to fix her up?” he nodded over his shoulder at the Jeep and squinted at his son who could not meet his eye. “That’s what you’re mad at, isn’t it?”

Ashlyn looked from her father to her brother, surprised by the astute observation. She herself had missed it, too wrapped up in Chris’ tried and true attack to see what the real cause of his upset was.

“What’s going on Bubba?” she asked with concern.

After what felt like an hour but was only a frustrating 2 minutes, Chris blew out a big breath, letting his shoulders slump as he tried to explain a wound that had been inflicted decades ago but still hadn’t healed.

“I don’t know” he began shyly. “I guess it’s just...I mean, I always wanted to...oh hell” he exhaled loudly again. “I’m pissed that you’re teaching my kid how to rebuild an engine...instead of me” he shrugged and then lifted his eyes to meet his father’s sorrowful gaze.

There it was. The neglect Mike Harris had shown both his children when they were young had caused more pain than any of them realized. It was cropping up again, catching everybody off guard. Suddenly Chris was a boy again, missing his father and wondering what he had done to drive him away. They were all quiet for another moment or two.

“I’m...sorry” Mike’s voice was tight, as if he didn’t have enough air in his lungs to make the words sound right.

He had made every apology imaginable over the years for being a shitty father to his children. He had tried his best to make peace with the fact that there was very little he could do about the past. But he would take his guilt with him to his grave, just as Tammye would for her own similar failings. There was no-one to blame but themselves, but that fact offered little relief for the pain both parents and children still felt whenever something like restoring the Jeep dredged up those old injuries.

“I know” Chris answered evenly, proud of himself for keeping eye contact. He hadn’t always been able to do that.

“Should I not teach him then?” Mike asked tentatively, trying to let his son know that he would do whatever he wanted him to do, without actually saying the words.

Ashlyn gave her brother a pleading look, hoping he wouldn’t punish Johnny for something completely out of his control. She understood her brother’s pain and anger better than anybody. But she loved that their dad was trying to make up for his shortcomings as a father by being a better grandfather. The grandkids loved him and she often envied her brother getting to have him in their daily lives.

“Nah, go ahead” Chris nodded, grabbing the back of his own neck with one big hand and squeezing. “If he likes it I mean.”

“I think he really does” Mike offered hesitantly. “And he’s good at it. He’s got a good head for mechanics. He learns quick.”

“Yeah?” Chris asked, a small smile appearing on his face.

“Yeah” Mike nodded, returning the smile, albeit smaller even than the first one. “We’ll see how his hands are when we get into her, but he understands most of what I’ve been telling him. He can draw it all out already.”

All three of them stood there smiling for a minute, letting the tension slowly leave the airspace.

“I learned from my father” Mike spoke more clearly now, his voice confident and calm. “I uh...I didn’t teach you, or you” he looked first at Chris and then at Ashlyn, nodding both times, “and I’m sorry about that. More sorry than you can know.” He cleared his throat and swallowed hard. “But, if it’s ok with you, I’d like to do better with him – with any of them that want to learn. I’d like to do what I should have done with you...what I wish I had done with you, both of you.”

“Sounds good Pop” Ashlyn’s voice hitched, full of emotion. “With me anyway” she turned to look at her brother who hadn’t said anything yet. “What about you Bubba?”

Chris moved closer to the Jeep, his brow furrowed, deep in thought. He ran his hand up the front fender until he was standing much closer to his father at the driver’s side door. 

“Don’t start it if you’re not gonna be there to finish it. Don’t bail on him” he looked his father in the eye again. “He’s already had too much of that from me” the big man dropped his eyes, full of shame and remorse. “Just promise me that, and yeah, I’m cool with it.”

“I swear it” Mike put his hand on Chris’ shoulder. His words came out loud and clear and true. “I promise I’ll never do that to him, or any of you again either. I swear it.”

//

Two days later, Beth and Ali went shopping with Lizzy and Josie and Lily. It hadn’t started out as a girls-only trip but none of the boys wanted to join them so that’s how it turned out. The girls had grown much closer since Lizzy had started spending so much time at The Academy the past couple of summers. Lizzy had just turned 13 in January, Josie would be turning 12 in June and Lily turning 10 in May. Josie had learned, oftentimes the hard way, that she couldn’t always have her way when it came to socializing with friends, classmates, or cousins. She had become a lot better at playing well with others and even letting them be the boss sometimes. 

Lizzy, unfortunately, had her father’s build, and Beth spent a lot of time trying to help her find clothes that fit well but were still kind of cool. It wasn’t easy with the big, square, boxy Harris frame. She was in 7th grade and just starting to feel the real impact of puberty. She hadn’t gotten her period yet but she and Beth had bought her first bra back in October.

“I can’t believe these girls are old enough to be talking about bras and French kissing and boys already” Beth groaned as she and Ali walked through the mall together that afternoon. The three girls giggled and squealed with excitement as they window-shopped in front of their moms, totally oblivious to their conversation. “It can’t be real.”

“I know!” Ali shook her head with a wistful smile. “Josie hasn’t asked for her first bra yet, but I know it’ll be any day now. Not that she needs one.”

“It’s so silly, but sweet too” Beth nodded. “They say that we’re supposed to get one for them as soon as they ask. But it does seem a little...extra.”

“Right, but they’re so sensitive about everything we don’t dare give them a reason to be really upset” Ali chuckled. “Ugh, I remember not loving middle school and I really want my kids to have good experiences...”

“But maybe that’s the whole point of middle school” Beth shrugged, “maybe you’re just supposed to survive it. Maybe it’s supposed to be hard and uncomfortable. Maybe that’s the lesson?” she asked and made an eek face.

“I have no idea” Ali sighed, “I just keep hoping we’re not messing it up too much.”

“Oh they’re great” Beth bumped shoulders with her sister-in-law as they walked. “Drew seems like he’s doing great – he beat those nerves and his stomach trouble like a champ, didn’t he” she smiled.

“He did” Ali gave her a quick, appreciative grin. “He still has his moments. Not that anything in 8th grade could possibly cause him any stress or self-consciousness” she rolled her eyes and laughed, happy to hear Beth join her. “I hear Johnny’s working on the old Jeep, with Mike?”

“Mmm Hmmm. Caused a few ruffled feathers for a day but that was all from Chris...”

“Yeah, Ash told me.”

“But Johnny really likes that stuff. He’s always liked taking things apart and putting them back together again. Well, when he could figure out how to put them back together again” Beth chuckled.

“None of mine do that, not yet anyway. I feel like that’s my fault, and Ash’s, because neither of us is much into that.”

“Johnny never saw either of us do much repair work either. Don’t blame yourself” she chuckled again. “Kids like what they like” she shrugged. “You show them a lot of different things, expose them to different places and environments, and then see what catches their eye. You guys have always been great about that. Think of all the amazing places they’ve travelled for Ash’s work!”

“Yeah, that’s something I’m really happy about” Ali nodded. “We’re so lucky we’ve been able to do that.” She paused and then bit the bullet. There was never going to be a good time or a good way to broach the subject anyway. “You know, Ash and I...we’d like to take Johnny and Lizzy with us next time, or one of the next times, if you think they’d like to, that is” she stammered a bit. “We’d really love all four of you to come with us but we know it’s so hard for you to leave the shop...”

“Oh Al, wow” Beth’s eyes were wide at the surprising invitation. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Say you’ll think about it. Ash is supposed to talk to Chris about it too, but she probably won’t” she chuckled. “So, it’s you and me, as usual.”

“I’ll talk to Chris” Beth gave the brunette a shy smile. The elephant in the room was the money the Harrises didn’t have to spend on a trip to a foreign country, and both women avoided calling it by name. “Are you sure you’d be up for two teenagers tagging along? Maybe you need to think about it some more” she quipped.

“We’ve wanted to do it for a long time. We should have done it two summers ago when we went to London, with Mike. I don’t know what the hell we were thinking.”

“He had such a great time on that trip” Beth’s face turned into a big smile at the thought of Mike Harris accompanying the young Krieger family to the World Cup in 2031. “He still talks about it all the time. He’ll throw out these random facts from ‘across the pond’” she laughed and they walked a few more steps in quiet. “I’d love my kids to have a memory like that.”

“Think about it. Talk to Chris. Then let’s plan it out” Ali put her hand out, palm up, inviting Beth to give her five. “Yes!!” she enthused quietly after the exchange. “It’ll be great. You’ll see.”

//

The next day, Thursday, was the warmest day of the week and the clan spent most of it on the beach outside of Tammye and Carol’s house. The kids and grown-ups who didn’t mind the chilly water were knee or waist deep in the ocean. The kids and grown-ups, mostly grown-ups, who couldn’t handle the cool temperature found other things to do like sunbathe, read, build sandcastles, walk the beach, or collect shells. At one point, Ashlyn, Ali, Tammye, and Carol all found themselves together in beach chairs halfway between the house and the ocean, right where the soft sand started to firm up just a bit. Ali and Ashlyn were in their bathing suits, trying to soak up as much Florida sun as possible before flying back to Gloucester on Saturday afternoon. The sun wasn’t truly hot but if you lay there in it for more than a few minutes you could feel it heating up your skin at a lovely, slow pace. It was Florida but it was still February. The day before had been in the 50s and overcast but Thursday was 76 degrees with clear blue skies.

“I can’t believe I’ll be 70 this time next month” Tammye shook her head and sighed. “I know I’m no spring chicken anymore, but 70 just seems so...”

“You’d better not say old” Carol quirked an eyebrow sharply at her wife in warning from across the semi-circle the four chairs were arranged in. Ali and Ashlyn were side by side with Tammye to Ashlyn’s left and Carol to Ali’s right. Carol had just turned 72 at the end of January and was as fit and active as ever after the rest of her body had gotten used to her surgically replaced left hip. “You’re only as old as you feel, you know that” she winked at Tammye.

“Age is...” Ashlyn began to recite one of her most commonly used phrases without even sitting up or opening her eyes.

“...just a number” all three of the others finished for her loudly and with laughter.

“Well, it’s true” the keeper lifted her head and squinted at them with attitude.

“It certainly is” Carol nodded approvingly.

“I guess I feel a little old then” Tammye shrugged and sighed again. “I’m sure I’ll get over it, but right now – I feel old.”

“Is it your hands mom?” Ashlyn stayed in her prone position on the lounge chair even though she wanted to sit up and talk more to her mother about whatever ailment was bothering her. She knew that Tammye was much more likely to share without too many eyes on her. “Or your feet? Are your bunions bad again?”

“Oh I’m fine. Nothing specific, just a general feeling I guess” she tried to deflect the questions but then noticed Ashlyn’s hands were both clenched. It was obvious to the mother that her daughter was anxious about the subject and the patient. “But yes, my hands are bothering me more these days” she admitted after a brief pause, deciding to share some details for Ashlyn’s sake. “And those damned bunions. Yuck. They’re so ugly too” she clucked as she lifted her bare feet up and looked at them with disgust. 

There was a large angular growth sticking out sideways from the knuckle of her big toe on each foot, right at the widest point on her foot. It made her big toes angle towards her other toes, out towards the side away from the bunion. The knuckle joint of her big toe on each foot had swollen and become deformed. Both bunions were red and painful looking, forcing the skin there to stretch and cover the new growth. But there was no broken skin or anything else unpleasant to look at. The deformed and swollen bunions looked grotesque but they weren’t that gross at all.

“Oh Tammye, we played soccer remember? We’ve seen every kind of disgusting foot ailment you can possibly imagine...” Ali replied kindly, looking right into her mother-in-law’s face with a smile.

“And then some” Ashlyn added knowingly and shivered at the memory of broken toes, missing toenails, infected blisters, and a myriad of other gross foot problems she had seen and endured in her athletic life.

“Trust us” Ali chuckled after the interjection, giving a quick glance at Tammye’s feet, “bunions might be really painful, but they’re not that hard to look at.”

“How about you Ash?” Carol asked the question she knew her own wife worried about a lot. “Any signs of the osteo-arthritis for you yet?”

“Nope, not yet” the keeper shaded her eyes with one hand and turned her head to face her stepmother’s inquisitive eyes. 

Ashlyn chose not to discuss the few times over the past year or so that her fingers had given her some sharp pain. Those times had, unfortunately, been while she was having sex with Ali and nobody was going to hear about them. She hadn’t even told the brunette yet. The very first time it had happened, Ashlyn had three fingers deep inside her wife during some vigorous thrusting when she felt a searing stab of pain in her middle finger. It had been so sharp and severe that Ashlyn had gasped out loud and pulled her hand out of her wife for a few seconds as she tried to figure out what had just happened to her. Ali had been so far gone on her quest for release that she barely even noticed. She missed her wife’s fingers but was quickly assuaged once Ashlyn put them back to work after those few seconds. 

There had been a few other instances just like that one and it seemed to be happening two or three times a year with varying degrees of severity. It was always her right hand, and usually her middle finger although her index finger had started to bother her occasionally as well. It was one of Ashlyn’s greatest fears about getting older. She couldn’t imagine what she would do if her hands and fingers ever got to the point where she couldn’t use them to pleasure her beautiful brunette. She certainly wasn’t ready to start dealing with it so she had adopted the tried and true strategy of denial thus far. So far, so good.

“You said Grandma Lilian had it in her hands and knees, right?” Ali turned to Tammye for confirmation. 

“That’s right” Tammye nodded, watching her daughter carefully while talking with Ali. “My mother never got it in her feet, that I know of anyway” she dropped her eyes as a momentary wave of shame and regret swept through her. “But she also had it in her lower back and I’m grateful I haven’t had that yet” she lifted her face to the sky and said a silent prayer.

“So your mom had it in her hands, her lower back and her knees” Ali tried to keep it straight, once and for all, and wished she had her phone with her or a piece of paper to make the notes. “And you’ve got it in your hands and feet, anyplace else?” she smiled softly at Tammye, knowing she was making her mother-in-law uncomfortable. “Sorry Tam, I know you don’t like to talk about it.”

“Oh it’s alright. I’m trying to be better about it” Tammye gave a loving look at Carol. “I know people want to know because they care about me, not for any other reason.” The two older women shared a sweet smile before Tammye continued. “Just my hands and feet. That’s right.”

“But it could affect any joint in the body, theoretically, right?” the brunette took advantage of Tammye’s openness.

“Yes, that’s how it works. It’s usually the extremities, but it could be elbows, hips, shoulders, anywhere there’s a joint.”

Ali could tell that her keeper was getting restless. Ashlyn hadn’t moved a muscle but the clenched fists were a dead giveaway. The brunette didn’t think anybody else noticed them, but she underestimated Tammye’s strong powers of observation. Ali knew her wife didn’t like to put her mom on the spot and suspected that Ashlyn was anxious about the topic for that reason. The blonde was always careful about pushing people out of their comfort zones.

“Well, in other news, my January ultrasound was clear” Ali announced in an attempt to change the subject. 

She too knew that her family worried about her and her hunt for the ovarian cancer that ran in her genes. She tried to be open and forthright about it but unless someone asked her about it she typically didn’t bring the subject up. The last thing she wanted was to be seen as the girl who cried wolf. She didn’t even have cancer and here she was making a big deal out of getting tested for it. It bothered her reserved sensibilities and she felt like an over-dramatic hypochondriac sometimes.

“Oh that’s wonderful honey” Carol beamed, reaching over to her left to pat Ali’s forearm on the arm of the chair closest to her. “Such a relief. I can only imagine.”

“Thank God” Tammye nodded and exhaled loudly. 

She still had her eyes on Ashlyn’s clenched fists but knew that Ali’s scary family history of ovarian cancer wasn’t going to be the topic to relax her. The conversation slowly turned to Mike Harris and his ailments and then to Aunt Marie, Mike’s sister whom he did not get along with at all, and her drama-filled life. By the time they got to talking about Ashlyn’s cousins, Carlin and David, Tammye was relieved to see her daughter’s big strong hands laying flat on the lounge chair, finally relaxed and at ease. Tammye knew that Ashlyn liked to present her laid-back surfer girl persona to the world and usually it was a true and honest reflection of her. But sometimes Ashlyn hid deeper, more troubled emotions and concerns behind that veneer. Her mother knew this and made a mental note to talk to the keeper about it in the near future. But the rest of their lovely, peaceful afternoon on the beach was spent laughing and talking and then playing with the kids before it was time for half of them to go inside and start making dinner. God bless warm, sunny Florida February afternoons.

//

Friday afternoon, the day before they flew back home, Ashlyn made her usual solo visit to Gram’s grave in the Methodist cemetery in Satellite Beach. It was 4 days after the 15th anniversary of Gram’s death and the keeper had already brought her wife and kids there earlier in the week to pay their respects and say hello. Ashlyn visited her grandmother’s grave at least once every time she made the trip back home to Florida, spending about an hour talking to the one person in the world she had trusted completely while she was growing up. That Friday afternoon was no different. The keeper had already been there for almost 45 minutes and had gotten comfortable, stretching out on her side and leaning on her elbow in the grass in front of the headstone. Gramps was right there too, next to his beloved wife.

“Chris is doing really good Gram, you’d be so proud of him. I mean, I know you were always proud of us anyway, no matter what. But he’s really turned things around. I was...hopeful, but still kind of worried that he’d say all the right things and even do all the right things for a while, and then go back to the same old Chris. He was always so cocky about it, you know? Like he took his sobriety too lightly. Like he thought he could beat the booze any time he needed to, without really making any changes. But he did it this time. It feels like he did it right. He’s kept his promise Gram. The one he made in front of us four years ago, all of us” she glanced at her grandfather’s grave and smiled. “He’s stuck to everything he promised us – the surf shop, the volunteering and the afterschool program. He’s leading groups at the rehab facility and he really loves doing all of it. I honestly thought he’d stop doing most of the extras after a while, but I was wrong. And you should see him with the kids” she got choked up for a second. “Johnny and dad are gonna fix up my old Jeep. I gotta admit, I was surprised and a little hurt – so was Chris. I would have loved to learn how to do that with dad. We both would.”

Ashlyn stopped talking for a few minutes, thoughtfully taking in her surroundings and environment.

“Oh, I almost forgot” she chuckled and rolled her eyes. “We got Frankie spayed last month and Lily cried her eyes out again, calling us mean mommies for not letting her have babies. And then Dodge made the jump to mommies having babies and asked us if it was true that you could make a baby by French kissing” she laughed out loud. “Like none of the million times we’ve talked or read about how babies are made had ever even happened. I thought Ali was gonna pass out from trying so hard not to laugh at him. God, he’s so freaking cute sometimes it takes my breath away” she grinned. “They all are, in different ways. I’m telling you Gram, if you thought me and Chris were hard to handle...” she shook her head and blew a low whistle through her lips. “Those four would knock your socks off now that they’re getting bigger. Dodge alone makes both me and Chris seem tame” she laughed again. “I picked the twins up from school one day and in the 10-minute drive home they asked me about 30 questions. Not silly, dumb questions either. They asked me, and I’m not making this up, they asked me:

‘How far away is the moon Mama?  
‘Why do people have a gun?’  
‘When do your bones stop growing?’  
‘How tall am I gonna be when I grow up?’  
‘Are we in any wars right now?’  
‘Have we been in a war in your lifetime Mama?’  
‘When will the next war be?’  
‘Is Meg gonna live with us after college?’  
‘Where is your favorite country Mama?’  
‘Are the Breakers the best soccer team in the world?’  
‘How long would it take us to walk to Florida?’”

Ashlyn chuckled at the memory. 

“And that was just getting out of the school parking lot! I swear Gram...I don’t know how you did it.” 

“And Ali bought Josie her first bra the other day. Ugh, I can’t believe it. She’s only 11 and still flat as a board, but she asked for one.” The keeper sighed wistfully. “How is she old enough to be asking for a bra? How is she in 6th grade already? How is Drew a teenager for God’s sake?! I really don’t know how 15 years has gone by...it feels like you were here with us just yesterday. I...I’m still pissed that you didn’t get to meet the kids. That’s just too much for me sometimes” she exhaled loudly. “Not pissed at you though. But pissed in general” she clarified. ‘I know it doesn’t help anybody or get me anywhere, but I can’t help it.”

Ashlyn was quiet for several minutes as she willed herself to let her anger subside. She focused on her peaceful surroundings, the soft grass she was combing her fingers through, the sound of the birds singing in the beautiful trees above her, the soft breeze that carried the fragrance of the flowers throughout the verdant, spiritual place. She could practically hear her grandmother chuckling at her dramatics. Gram would have told her to get over herself and quit living in the past. She would have told Ashlyn, as she had done a hundred times while she had raised her under her own roof, that being angry didn’t do anybody any good. As if to emphasize the point, a big gust of wind blew through the cemetery making the birds take flight and re-settle in new positions among the branches around her. Ashlyn lifted her face up, smiling into the gust and closed her eyes. It almost felt like Gram was there beside her, the gust like the old woman’s touch on her cheek or shoulder. It was over just as quickly as it had started and everything was peaceful and quiet again. The keeper took a deep breath and felt her heart ache and then swell with all the love that would always be there for Gram. The peace of the cemetery had finally made its way into Ashlyn’s heart again.

“Your butterfly still looks so beautiful” she admired the etching in the corner of the flat headstone that she had talked her grandmother into near the end of her life. She paused for a few seconds, trying hard to keep her emotions under control as best she could. “It’s still the prettiest headstone in the whole cemetery, just like we talked about” she smiled as a few tears began to slide down her cheeks. She looked at both headstones again. “Just the way Gramps would have wanted it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It sounds like Ken Krieger is recovering from whatever medical emergency hit him a week ago. Thank God.  
> And it looks like Hurricane Dorian is going to give most of Florida a reprieve too. Hallelujah for Ali and Ashlyn's Florida family (and their house)!  
> Looking forward to the USWNT game tonight but I was really hoping Ashlyn would get the start after Franch got the last one. We'll never know now. I know Ash is where she needs to be right now and I'm glad she and Ali both feel confident enough to tell the team so, but I really want them both, but Ashlyn especially because she was only an alternate last time, to make the Olympic team next year and missing games isn't going to help her do that. Family first, always. And who knows? Maybe jello wasn't gonna give her this game anyway. I've given up trying to figure out how or why she does things. lol


	21. When a Negative is a Good Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I got confused on the days this week, lol. Work is crazy busy and the Monday holiday threw me for a loop. Anyway, I posted Monday and Tuesday nights and now tonight. So, you're welcome. ha ha ha

“Slow down and breathe Meg” Ashlyn put both hands on her stepdaughter’s shoulders, arms stretched out at full length and 3’ between the two women. Both dogs were just getting to the mudroom as well, equally surprised and elated by the visitor. Ashlyn’s face was full of concern as she tried to make heads or tails of Meg’s unannounced visit that Wednesday night in March. Their eyes were practically level and it still made the blonde’s head spin a bit because Meg was taller than she was. Where did the adorable little redheaded girl who stole her heart go? “I’m right here kiddo. Just try and relax for a minute.”

It was 9pm on March 16th, a week and one day after Meg’s 21st birthday and the newly legal young woman hadn’t even made it out of the mudroom yet that night. She had burst through the door into the big old house and called out for Ashlyn or Ali before even taking her coat off. Ali was upstairs helping Becca Flanagan back to sleep after the almost 8-year old had gotten up looking for some water. Ashlyn had rushed into the mudroom from the kitchen where she had been preparing two bowls of ice cream for her wife’s return downstairs.

“Ok, ok...” Meg panted out and closed her eyes as she tried to slow her racing heart down. “Just breathe...I can do that...” she spoke to herself with a nod, eyes still shut. 

Ashlyn, meanwhile, was practically crawling out of her skin with worry. She wanted to shake the girl until she told her what was wrong and who had hurt her. But she willed herself to remain patient and calm, taking her own advice and drawing her own deep breaths.

“Are you hurt?”

“What?” Meg opened her eyes and gave the blonde a quizzical look. “No.”

“Oh thank God” Ashlyn exhaled loudly and squeezed Meg’s shoulders. She fought the urge to pull her into a hug because she could see and feel how tense and upset the redhead was. “What’s going on?”

Meg took another deep breath and then shook her head.

“Nothing. Everything’s ok” she shrugged and moved past Ashlyn into the kitchen, stopping in front of the refrigerator and pulling the door open. She bent over and looked inside without actually seeing anything. She was grateful for the distance and the refrigerator door between she and her stepmother. “We don’t have any Gatorade?” 

“It’s right in front of you” Ashlyn moved into the kitchen, standing near the stove on the other side of the rectangular room, right across from the anxious young woman and the fridge. She squinted as she studied Meg’s odd behavior from behind. “Bottom shelf. Where it always is.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Ashlyn watched her step to her right, put the large bottle of Gatorade on the counter near the coffee maker, and reach up into the cupboard above for a glass. She could swear she saw Meg’s hand shaking as she brought the glass down to the counter. What the hell was going on? Meg rarely visited on a weeknight, unless there was a special event or family celebration or something outside the normal schedule of events. When she wasn’t in soccer season Meg drove up to Gloucester on the weekend to do some laundry and get some home cooking. Ali and Ashlyn could expect her once or twice a month and sometimes took advantage and went out for a date night if they could get it scheduled with the redhead. But this Wednesday night surprise visit, so full of nerves and odd behavior, was definitely not normal. Something was up and Ashlyn was trying to play the situation right. It was obvious that Meg wasn’t ready to talk about it just yet. The 70-minute drive from her dorm to the big old house hadn’t been quite long enough, apparently.

“Hey Megski” Ali’s cheerful voice joined them from the back stairs as she crossed the length of the kitchen towards the redhead. She caught the strange body language from Meg and the confused and concerned look on her wife’s face and immediately felt her heart pang. “What’s the matter? What happened?” 

Meg focused exclusively on pouring the Gatorade into the glass with shaking hands, which only made both moms more concerned. Ali gave Ashlyn a ‘what the fuck’ look and received a frustrated shrug in return.

“Meg says nothing’s wrong” Ashlyn replied evenly, leaning against the counter by the stove with her arms folded across her chest. Her eyes were boring holes in the back of the redhead who still refused to face either mom. “But she also couldn’t see the Gatorade right in front of her face a minute later so I think maybe she’s got something she wants to talk about.”

“Ah” Ali nodded as she approached the younger woman. She smiled, rubbed Meg’s back lightly, and leaned up to kiss her cheek. “Maybe just not ready yet, huh honey.”

Meg looked relieved for a second as she glanced at Ali and returned a quick smile. The brunette crossed the kitchen and gave her wife’s lips a brief peck. She looked into worried hazel eyes and tried to give her some extra strength and patience while they waited for Meg’s news. Whatever it was.

“Ooooh, is one of those for me?” Ali purred, looking at the two bowls of ice cream on the counter near her wife.

“Yes ma’am” Ashlyn smiled, remembering the bowls for the first time since she put the ice cream away right before Meg’s arrival. “Ask and ye shall receive.”

“Thank you babe” she kissed Ashlyn’s lips again and grinned when she felt the blonde put her arms around her waist, still from her leaning position. “Want some ice cream Meg?” Ali asked over her shoulder.

“Ummm...yeah, ok” came the quiet reply.

“Excellent decision” she complimented her stepdaughter. “Why don’t you take these into the living room and I’ll be right in with the third” she patted Ashlyn on the hip and stepped away from her. “Chocolate?” the brunette asked the question even though she knew it was Meg’s favorite. “Jimmies too?”

“Yeah, thanks” Meg finally turned to face Ali who was now on her left, getting the ice cream out of the bottom drawer freezer in the refrigerator.

“It’ll be ok honey, whatever it is” she patted Meg’s leg as she stood up. “Go on” she nodded towards the front living room. “Make sure she doesn’t eat mine before I get in there.”

It took almost 30 agonizing minutes of small talk, stories about Becca and Lily being cute earlier that night, and an inspection of Logan’s paw with the broken nail before the ice cream bowls were empty and the room quiet. Meg sat on the long side of the couch, near the ‘L’ bend, with Ashlyn on her right and Ali on her left, on the short side of the couch. The brunette was just about to get up and take the bowls into the kitchen, just to have something to do in case Meg wanted to talk to Ashlyn one on one, when the redhead finally spoke.

“I’m late.”

Ashlyn frowned, trying hard to get her brain to understand. 

“Late for what?” the blonde looked from Meg to Ali, still confused.

“Oh” Ali said, her eyes growing big as she connected the dots after studying Meg’s anguished face for a few seconds.

“Late for what?” Ashlyn asked again with an impatient furrow of her brow.

“She’s late” Ali nodded at her wife. “Her period.”

“Oh” Ashlyn put her hand on Meg’s thigh and patted it as she tried to process what the news might mean. “Ok. Well, um...” she stalled, searching for something supportive to say. “Well, let’s try and stay calm until we know for sure, right?” she smiled hopefully, but it was awkward and forced. 

“Yes” Ali nodded in agreement. “I think so too” she moved next to Meg, rubbing her back again and giving her a warm smile. “How late are you? What are we talking about?”

The irony of Meg talking to two women who had very little experience with worrying about getting pregnant by accident was not lost on Ali or Ashlyn. The brunette would have given her left arm to have Sydney there with them that night. But she wasn’t there. Meg had come to Ashlyn and Ali to talk so they would just have to do the best they could.

“I just noticed today” Meg spoke haltingly, spaces between her phrases as her addled brain tried to keep up. “That fucking Stats class is kicking my ass and I’ve been trying to get my grade up...” she put her head in her hands and rested her elbows on her knees, bending forward and rocking slowly.

Ali and Ashlyn shared a worried look over Meg’s hunched form. The brunette continued to rub what she hoped were soothing circles into her back while Ashlyn leaned over and kissed Meg’s head.

“Shhhh...it’s ok honey. We’re right here with you and we’ll help you with whatever happens. No matter what” the blonde spoke clearly and passionately, her words going right to Meg’s frazzled center. “It’ll be ok.”

After another few minutes of more silence and soothing and patting, Meg sat up. Her face was red, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. Both moms had been quiet, giving the young woman the time she needed to collect herself or fall apart, or whatever she needed to do.

“How late are you sweetheart?” Ali tried again. “Best guess.”

“6 days.”

Ashlyn’s eyes went wide again, but she was coming at the answer from the perspective of a woman who had never had a late period in her life. She was one of those lucky women who had been blessed with a nice, tidy, 3-day period that came every 28 days no matter what. Ali had an entirely different take on it because her experience had been anything but routine or tidy.

“Is that a lot for you? You’re not always that regular, right? So 6 days might not be such a big deal” the brunette offered, trying to be the voice of reason and knowing that if your periods weren’t always rock solid on schedule you could get some odd cycles now and then.

“I’ve never been more than 3 days late before. Ever.”

“And you’re sure it’s 6 this time?” Ali continued to gather facts, speaking in a careful, tender voice the whole time. “You’re positive?”

“Yeah, it might even be 7 but I can’t remember what time of day my last period started” she shook her head and anger flashed across her flushed face. “I didn’t mark it down either.”

“Ok, well 6 or 7, either way it’s the latest you’ve ever been” Ali sighed softly. “So ok, you’re late.”

Hearing Ali say it, even though she just repeated what Meg had said 15 minutes earlier, made it shockingly more real. For everybody.

“Who...” Ashlyn started to ask but changed tactics. “Do you know who...”

She caught the quirked eyebrow from her wife but didn’t care. Ashlyn had been very patient and was dying to know who she might have to go and kill. She frowned back at Ali and the two of them exchanged different silent facial contortions that Meg could easily see.

“It’s Charlie you guys. Just him” she sighed heavily and wiped the tears that fell after she blinked her eyes. “There’s no mystery. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

Ashlyn’s shoulders visibly relaxed and she squeezed her stepdaughter’s thigh again, then patted it. 

“I didn’t mean it like that” the blonde spoke softly, tilting her head to meet the redhead’s gaze. She wasn’t sure how she had meant it, honestly. She gave Meg a tender smile. “Nobody did anything wrong, including you.”

“But what if I’m pregnant?” Meg whimpered, her bottom lip quivering the way it used to when she was a little girl. “It’s my senior year coming up, I’ll be 5 months pregnant in August, I’ll miss my whole senior year!” her voice was louder now, rising right along with her unruly emotions. “I’ll never get drafted in the NWSL if I don’t play next season. Nobody wants to draft somebody with a baby anyway! Everything I’ve worked so hard for, all these years. What the hell am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?!”

The tears finally fell then. Meg had realized her situation that afternoon and forced herself to finish her day of classes, keep her dinner plans with some teammates and then go back to her dorm to try and get some studying done. As soon as she was alone in her room her mind overwhelmed her and she got in her Jeep and started driving North. She didn’t even remember making the decision but there she was. And now that she was home with Ashlyn and Ali and feeling safer and less alone, she lost her shit. All the fear and regret and anger and loneliness she had kept at bay all day long came pouring out of her. Ashlyn pulled the girl into her arms and leaned back so Meg could curl up into her chest and bawl her eyes out properly. Ali stayed with them, doing her best to keep inquisitive Frankie from interrupting the emotional moment. It was 10pm and none of them felt any better about Meg’s circumstances. 

“When...uhh...when was the last time you had sex?” Ali asked as delicately as possible after the redhead had stopped crying and they had all taken bathroom and water breaks. They had reconvened on the couch again to talk some more.

“Ugh” Meg closed her eyes, embarrassed and suddenly very very tired. “Umm, last week, the day after my birthday...” she scrunched up her face as she tried to remember. 

Meg had turned 21 years old on Tuesday March 8th, 2033 and the Kriegers had done their best to mark the momentous occasion even though they had 3 separate kid things that afternoon and evening. They had to think outside the box and be a little creative. Ali took Meg and her roomie and bestie Gwen to lunch between the junior’s classes. Then Ashlyn drove into the city and took Meg out for an official drink that evening after Ali had come home from Lily’s soccer practice. Hannah came up that weekend, 3 days after Meg’s birthday, and took her daughter out for a real night on the town. Ali and Ashlyn knew they hadn’t heard all the stories yet and weren’t sure they wanted to. Now, 3 days after Hannah flew back to DC, here they were trying to work their way through Meg’s current situation.

“Yeah, he went to his parents last weekend for his grandparents’ anniversary party” she nodded, sure she had gotten it right. “Yeah, last Wednesday.”

“Did you use protection?” Ashlyn asked the uncomfortable question this time as they all sat on the couch again as they had before. “Are you still on the pill?” she cocked her head trying to jog her own memory. “You were then you weren’t...then you tried it again...”

“I can’t take it” Meg pulled her feet up and sat cross-legged with a box of tissues in her lap. “I get wicked bad headaches” she explained what both women had heard from Hannah. “I tried twice, two different kinds, but it kills my head. So...” she kept her eyes on her lap as her hands played with the tissue box, “we use condoms” she shared bashfully. “But we’re really careful” she lifted her head quickly, eager to set the record straight. “Charlie...he, God” she sighed and closed her eyes as the blush rose up her cheeks. “He pulls out too. We’re careful, every time.”

“Well that’s good honey. Really good” Ali tried to reassure her while Ashlyn’s head exploded from the inside out. 

The keeper knew her little Megatron had sex. She knew it. But she had gotten good at pretending her stepdaughter’s sex life was non-existent. It turned her stomach to think of Meg having sex. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Meg. She was skeptical of all the bros out there who were always on the hunt to get lucky and score, regardless of with whom or how. Those assholes were what made Ashlyn’s brain ache at the thought of Meg being a sexually active young woman. Not only was she sexually active, but she had matured into a beautiful young woman as well. She was 5’ 10” and had her mother’s large breasts and generous curves. But over the past two years at Boston College, she had turned her body into a muscular, fit, healthy machine that would carry her to her dream of playing professional soccer after college. She looked like the quintessential girl next door, but with coppery red curls and green eyes. She wasn’t a stunner but her face was beautiful in a simple, plain way. She had inherited her mother’s body but not her pretty, delicate features. 

“Have you had any other symptoms? Have you felt nauseous, sore breasts, mood changes, weight gain?” Ashlyn read from the list of pregnancy symptoms on her phone. 

“No, I don’t think so. I mean this Stats class is totally stressing me out so I haven’t been sleeping that great and have been kind of cranky” she made an eek face and shrugged. “But I haven’t been feeling anything other than usual school stress.”

“That extra stress could be what caused you to miss your period too” Ali added optimistically. “Sometimes that’s all it takes.”

“Really?”

Ali’s heart broke at the big green eyes that turned to her. They were filled with equal parts fear and hope.

“Really. That might be all this is” Ali patted Meg’s knee.

An hour later, after Ashlyn returned with 7 home pregnancy tests from three different nearby convenience stores, and after Meg talked with Hannah and told her not to fly up until they had some answers at least, the three tired women waited anxiously for results. Meg had peed on 5 sticks, following the different instructions by brand of test to the letter – thank you Ali for reading them all and making sure Meg knew how long to pee on the stick and how long to wait for the results. They decided to save 2 of them for the next morning, which was the best time to take the test because your urine was ‘purer’. Some of the tests required 2 minutes and others needed 3 minutes before you got your result.

“Alright Megski, here we go” Ali got ready to stop the 2-minute alarm she had set on her phone. “These three will be ready innnnnnn...” she held out the word for the last few seconds of the timer. “Now.”

All three of them leaned over the coffee table in the front living room to peer at the results of the first three tests.

“This one has one line!” Ashlyn read the test stick in front of her, already forgetting what the presence of the line meant.

“This one has nothing” Meg looked nervously from one mom to the other and back to the stick in front of her.

“This one has a minus sign” Ali announced the third stick’s result with a smile. “So this one says you’re not pregnant.”

“This one too, right?” Meg asked as she looked at the back of the stick for the key explaining results again. “Yes. Not pregnant” the redhead confirmed, her voice more than a little shaky.

“Is this a minus sign or just a line?” the blonde sounded agitated.

“Ummm...” Ali reached over and looked at the box for that particular test. “Two lines means pregnant...so not pregnant!”

The look of relief on Meg’s face almost brought Ashlyn to tears. The 21-year old was obviously having a hard time taking all of this in and Ashlyn wasn’t sure what to do to help her. As Meg texted the results to Hannah, Ali’s 3-minute alarm went off and they brought their attention back to the coffee table for two more not pregnant indications. Meg let out a sobbing gasp as more relief flooded her system. The three women hugged and smiled and hugged again, happy with the results and a hopeful finish to their long, stressful night. They all went up to bed, adrenaline still coursing through their veins, and struggled to find sleep right away. Ali wanted to check in with Ashlyn and make sure she was doing ok but the keeper had gone up to the third floor to see how Meg was handling her eventful night first. It was almost 1:00am when Ashlyn poked her head inside the bedroom door after knocking softly and hearing a quiet ‘come in’.

“You doing ok?” she asked, leaning into the door frame in her sleep shorts and t-shirt and glasses, trying to give Meg her space.

“Ah-huh” the redhead nodded as she sat up against her headboard with her knees pulled up to her chest. 

She didn’t look ok. She looked upset and wide awake. Ashlyn wondered if she had spent the whole 45 minutes up here freaking out, as it appeared she had.

“You sure?” she pushed just a little bit. “It’s ok if you’re not you know. Whatever you’re feeling...it’s alright to feel.”

Meg turned her phone off and put it on the nightstand next to her, then stretched her legs out and slid down into place in the bed, seemingly ready to go to sleep.

“I know” her small voice replied from the semi-darkness, only the light from the third-floor hallway offering any illumination.

“Ok then” Ashlyn smiled and felt it fill her whole face for the first time in over 4 hours. “I’ll leave you alone. Sleep well...” she said as she started to back out of the doorway.

“Wait!” 

They both seemed surprised to hear Meg’s voice again. Ashlyn cocked her head in anticipation of another sentence or word, but all Meg did was reach over to her right and pull down the covers of her double bed. Ashlyn felt her heart jump right up into her throat at the sweet, soft gesture. It had been a long time since Meg had asked Ashlyn to sleep with her, or even to stay with her until she fell asleep.

“Can you sleep here tonight?”

“Of course I can kiddo” the blonde replied as she shut off the hall light and crossed to the bed. 

Ashlyn took her glasses off and got comfortable under the covers, letting Meg decide if she wanted to snuggle or not. She could sense that the redhead needed some space, but still wanted somebody close by, and she was right. Both women lay on their backs, with their tired, red eyes staring up at the ceiling for a few minutes.

“What would have happened if I had been pregnant?” Meg finally asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“You would have taken some time to figure out exactly what you wanted to do, what would be best for you and your life” the blonde replied, talking softly but clearly despite her exhaustion. This was important and she knew it. “And then, we would have helped you do whatever that was.”

“What if I wanted to keep the baby?”

“Then we would have helped you have a healthy pregnancy and celebrated when you gave us our first grandchild.”

“Then what?”

“Well, that’s up to you honey. Would you want Charlie to be involved?”

“I...I don’t know” Meg stammered.

“Either way, your mom and Ali and I all would help you take care of your baby, if that’s what you wanted. Or you could give him or her up for adoption if you didn’t feel ready to be a mom...”

“What about school? Would I lose my scholarship if I couldn’t play my senior year?”

“I don’t know” Ashlyn answered honestly, which was exactly why Meg was asking. “We’d talk to Niki and figure something out. Worst case scenario if your scholarship went away, we’d pay for your school. Your mom was ready to do that whether you got the scholarship or not three years ago."

"She was?" Meg turned her head to face the blonde.

“Absolutely.”

The house sounded impossibly still and they lay there just as quiet for another minute or so before Meg’s whisper sounded again.

“What if I...didn’t want to keep the baby? What if I didn’t want to be pregnant?”

“Then we’d help you get an abortion” Ashlyn responded the only way she could ever imagine responding.

“I thought you didn’t like abortion?” Meg turned her head again to try and watch her stepmother’s face in the dark.

“Nobody likes abortion” Ashlyn shook her head, surprised that Meg could be so naïve about such a serious topic. But, when she remembered herself at 21 years old, she realized she hadn’t had a lot of fully-formed ideas about it either. “But sometimes it’s the best thing to do.”

“Would you ever get an abortion?”

“I don’t know” the blonde answered with more truth. “I don’t think I would, but everybody’s different. Everybody’s life and situation is different, every time. That’s what makes it so hard for people to understand. I don’t think any woman really knows what she would do until she’s right in the situation and she has to make that decision. It’s a really personal thing that everybody should be able to decide on their own.”

“That’s what I think too. I kept trying to decide what I’d do, all day long.”

“And what did you decide?”

“I never did. I couldn’t. It was too hard” she rolled onto her right side, facing Ashlyn. “I needed to talk to you guys, and mom.”

“And Charlie?” the blonde asked as she rolled towards the middle of the bed too. “Did you talk to him about it too?”

“Nuh-uh” Meg shook her head and bit her bottom lip. “I had to figure my own self out first. Is that bad? Should I have told him right away?”

“I don’t think it’s bad at all” Ashlyn reassured her. “It’s important to know how you feel about something first, before you let anybody else influence you. Then, once you know where you stand, you should talk to him...if he’s somebody important in your life, if you’re in a relationship with him.”

They were quiet again and Meg realized too late that she had opened up the topic of what exactly her relationship with Charlie actually was. But maybe that was what she wanted all along? Maybe she was ready to define her relationship, one way or the other.

“We’re just friends...”

“Meg, I’m not here for intel” Ashlyn interrupted. “You don’t have to tell me anything...”

“No, I know. I want to talk to you about it.”

“Ok then” the blonde smiled as her heart filled up again. “You’re just friends, but friends with benefits, obviously?”

“Yeah, sort of. I mean, I’m not dating anybody else and he’s not dating anybody else, and we spend all our time together, when I’m not with the team” she added quickly.

“Of course.”

“He’s great and I feel really comfortable and safe with him. He gets me, you know? He doesn’t make me feel like I have to be something different, something I’m not.”

“That’s the best. That’s awesome Meg.”

“We’re really good friends, that’s how it started and I love that about us, whatever we are.”

“But...?”

“I don’t know” Meg exhaled and frowned. “I’ve been up here for an hour trying to figure out what I would have done if I was pregnant. Like, would I have told him and would he have felt pressured to be with me just because of the baby? Or would he freak out and never talk to me again? And that scared me to death.”

“Him not talking to you again?”

“Yeah” she nodded. “That was almost scarier than thinking I was pregnant.”

As much as Ashlyn tried not to like Charlie Applegate, she had to admit that everything she had seen and heard about the guy was good stuff. All of the positive attributes and characteristics that Ali had pointed out to her during their private conversations were completely true and the keeper knew it. Now, after one of the most frightening nights of her young life, Meg was sharing things that Ashlyn knew meant she loved him. Meg was in love with Charlie Applegate and just starting to figure it out.

“Does he make you laugh?”

“All the time” Meg grinned. “He’s really funny, but he’s also a dork. He’s a giant dork” she giggled softly. “We do this thing where we dare each other to do stuff...” the redhead saw the horrified look on her stepmother’s face and quickly clarified. “Ew, not that kind of stuff. Just stupid stuff. Like...we’ll be driving down the road and he’ll say ‘I dare you to go hug that tree over there for 10 seconds’. Or we’ll be walking in the city and I’ll dare him to go run around the street sign three times. Dumb stuff like that.”

“That is really dorky” Ashlyn chuckled and took the swat to the arm Meg delivered with a grin on her face. “But totally awesome.”

“I know you don’t like him, it’s ok” she made the words sound convincing but the slightly pained expression on her face gave her true feelings away.

“I never said I don’t like him.”

“You act like you don’t like him then. Whatever. It’s ok. You don’t have to like him, because I do.”

Ashlyn had to fight a whimper of adoration and pride before it voiced itself from her throat. She had never been more proud of Meg, ever.

“Does he respect you? Does he know how amazing you are and think it’s great, or does he feel threatened by it?”

“He’s honestly the sweetest about stuff like that. I remember how Dev used to be with Mom, nothing bad” she clarified when Ashlyn’s eyes opened wider at the mention of Hannah’s misogynistic, homophobic, bigoted ex-husband dickhead. “Just, if she ever got noticed at work or if she got rewarded for putting a great event together for a client, he was always polite about it. But you could tell he didn’t think it mattered. The more I look back on their marriage” she rolled her eyes, “the more I see how patronizing and awful he was. I don’t think he ever hurt her or anything, but he never respected her. I didn’t understand what that meant for a long time.”

“But you do now, don’t you?” the blonde nodded proudly again.

“I do. I finally get it. At least I think I do anyway. Charlie pays attention to me. He listens to me and wants to know what I think about things, even his things. I don’t understand half of what he does...”

“What does he do? What’s his major?”

“He’s a bio-chem major and he’s on a research track.”

“Super-smart. Got it. Go on” they both giggled.

“I don’t get a lot of what he does but he likes to talk to me about it anyway. I’m used to boys and guys not wanting to talk to me about things. Like...God, how could I know anything about sports right? Those dudebros assume I’m too dumb to talk about the Red Sox for Christ’s sake” she rolled her eyes. “But Charlie talks to me about everything.”

“Those dudebros are who I don’t like Meg” Ashlyn took a moment to clear up a misconception. “I don’t hate all the guys you date, just those asshole dudebros who think you’re too dumb to talk about sports or bio-chem but still want to get into your pants. Those guys are who I will hunt and kill if they hurt you.”

“So, not Charlie then?”

“No, not Charlie” Ashlyn smiled and reached over to move some of Meg’s curls away from her tired face. “You don’t have to rush right out and tell him or anything” she spoke softly as she pulled her hand back and tucked it under her own pillow, “but I think he sounds like a pretty great guy.”

“You do?” Meg’s mouth dropped open.

“I absolutely do, after talking with you tonight” she nodded. “He’s good to you, he lets you be yourself, he’s smart and funny...”

“And a dork” Meg added with a grin.

“Right, and a dork, can’t forget that” they both chuckled. “But seriously honey, life is way too short to be spending it with somebody who doesn’t think you’re amazing. Because you are amazing. You’re such a good kid and a wonderful person and you deserve someone who realizes that too. And the minute the person you’re with stops treating you like that, that’s when you need to move on” she paused, quirking her eyebrow for emphasis. “Charlie sounds like he’s the real deal and if he makes you happy and treats you well, then I’m a member of the Charlie Applegate fan club.”

“I’m glad” Meg grinned again and then took her own minute of pause, growing serious again. “I think I’m in love with him. I thought I might be, but I wasn’t sure. Then today...when I thought about losing him because of this...”

“Scared you huh?”

“I was more upset about that than the baby, if you want the real truth” she admitted shyly. “I don’t want to be with anybody else, and I don’t want him to be with anybody else. I love doing things for him, surprising him with something silly or sweet” she shrugged. “I don’t’ know...I feel better when I’m with him, happier I guess.”

“And he feels the same way about you?”

“I think he’s been in love with me since freshman year, but he didn’t think I was interested. And he was right” she giggled. “But not because of him, because of soccer and school...I didn’t want to get distracted by anything back then. But now...I don’t know, I feel like I can have him and soccer too” she smiled to herself as she thought about what she had just said. “He’s really sweet to me. He reminds me of how you are with Ali.”

“Oh well, he’s definitely the one then” they both laughed. “He sounds absolutely charming as hell. But I’ve got one more serious question before I officially give you my blessing...” Ashlyn’s words sounded serious but her voice gave away her intent to tease.

“Oh, I don’t remember asking you for your blessing” Meg quipped.

“Oooooh, damn girl. You got me there” the blonde chuckled and shook her head. “Straight facts.”

“Alright, alright, what’s your serious question?”

Ashlyn took a minute and held her stepdaughter’s gaze in the dark room, trying to convey the importance of the coming question even though they both knew she wasn’t being serious anymore.

“Is he a good kisser?”

“Ugh, you are the worst” Meg giggled and rolled her eyes. “I knew you weren’t serious.”

“But I am serious. How he treats you in the bedroom is just as important as how he treats you while you’re being dorks and running around hugging trees and stuff.”

“Get out of here” Meg shook her head and giggled but the insistent look on Ashlyn’s face eventually won out. “Yes, ok? He’s a good kisser.”

“Are you sure? You hesitated there. I’m not sure I believe you. Does he use too much tongue? Too much teeth? Not enough tongue? There are so many ways to be a bad kisser...”

“I’m sure!” Meg laughed and swatted Ashlyn’s arm again. “He’s a very good kisser as a matter of fact” she bragged playfully.

“Good, good” the blonde nodded approvingly before continuing to tease her about something she really did believe was paramount in any good romantic relationship. “And does he kiss you...in all the right places?” she lowered her eyes to where Meg’s crotch would be if it wasn’t under the covers, making the young woman squeal in embarrassment and then laugh.

“Oh my God, yes, ok? He’s good at that too” she finally replied, her hands covering her blushing face.

“Excellent” Ashlyn laughed with her, enjoying every second of making her squirm. “We’re joking around, but honestly Meg, being open and honest about sex is so important, especially with somebody you’re in love with.”

“Geez, I knew I shouldn’t have told you anything” she shook her head but Ashlyn could see the smile on her face behind her hands. She was beaming back there.

“Alright, I’ll stop” Ashlyn’s voice softened and she patted Meg’s hip. “But promise me you’ll make sure he’s always putting you first, in the bedroom and everywhere else. Promise?”

“Yes, I promise” she groaned, still hiding her face. “Are you done?”

“I’m done. Except to say that I love you very much and I’m always here if you need me, for anything.”

Meg scooted closer and gave Ashlyn a big, long hug, kissing her on the cheek before moving back to her side of the bed. They smiled sweetly at each other and then got settled in for sleep, adjusting covers and flipping pillows over. They said their goodnights and just as Ashlyn was drifting off, she heard Meg say one last tender thing.

“Besides, I know what a great relationship looks like. I’ve watched you and Ali all my life. It doesn’t get any better than that.”


	22. Baby, Are You Awake?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut warning - pretty much the whole chapter.

Tammye Burnham Harris Lanier turned 70 years old on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2033. The Kriegers already had plans to attend the big party at the end of April vacation week that would celebrate three very important dates in their family. Tammye’s 70th birthday, Tammye’s 25th anniversary of her sober date on April 23rd, and Tammye and Carol’s 7th wedding anniversary on April 24th. The shy birthday girl, and anniversary girl, didn’t want a big fuss. That was the story of Tammye’s life. She hated to be the center of attention and was uncomfortable with a lot of hoopla around her birthday or any other milestone. She had already accepted the fact that her family was going to celebrate her monumental sober anniversary so she convinced them to lump all three big deals together. The family had agreed but secretly planned to surprise the family matriarch for her birthday in March too. 

Ashlyn flew down to Melbourne Beach on Wednesday morning, arriving just after lunch. She helped Beth and Chris, and even Mike Harris, set up the Harris household for the big surprise while Carol kept Tammye busy during the day. When the birthday girl and her wife showed up at Chris and Beth’s for what was supposed to be a quiet birthday dinner, she got the shock of her life to find Ashlyn there along with 3 or 4 other of her dearest friends. It turned out to be one of the best nights of Tammye’s life and she was so grateful she cried as she tried to thank everyone at the end of the night.

“And don’t think this gets you out of the big party in April either” Chris quipped as his mother recovered from her emotional display. “We know you’re thinking it” he challenged playfully before wrapping her up in an enormous hug.

“Just think mom, you get to see me three months in a row!” Ashlyn offered with a dimpled grin. “That’ll cheer you right up!” she laughed as did everyone else.

Leave it to Tammye’s two outgoing kids to help her out of her intense spotlight. God love them both. Carol especially appreciated the way Ashlyn and Chris always had their mother’s back. She had had to earn her own way into their inner circle of acceptance when it came to their mother, but, now that she was there, she admired both kids for their strong, enduring defense of Tammye. The Harrises, all of them, were far from perfect, but their redeeming qualities always outweighed their faults in the end.

Ashlyn’s scheduled flight home the next morning was delayed and then cancelled altogether because of something mechanical with the aircraft itself. The keeper spent almost the entire day at the tiny Melbourne International Airport before finally boarding her 3-hour flight home at 9:00pm. She had spent much of the day talking with a handful of different passengers who she knew from Satellite Beach and Melbourne Beach, the parents of a high school friend, the son of one of Gram’s best friends, an old teacher who had just retired. It truly was a small world sometimes. Ashlyn was exhausted from socializing by the time she settled into her seat on the plane. That last whiskey drink at the bar had just started to calm her nerves and she dozed off quickly after take-off. She tried to come to her senses on the ride home from the airport. As she sat in the back of the car Ali had hired to meet her, Ashlyn’s head swam with tantalizing images of her hot wife. She could not get the sexy visions of her beautiful brunette out of her mind, and she finally decided she didn’t really want to. 

It had been a week and a day since she and Ali had dealt with a pretty nerve-wracking situation. Meg’s feared pregnancy. Both moms felt as though they had handled it pretty well, but it was hard to be sure. As with all the big, challenging things that came at them in their life together, Ali and Ashlyn had bonded together afterwards. It had frightened them, more than either of them was ready to admit – the idea of becoming grandmothers so soon. But any selfish worries about their own aging were quickly swept aside by concern for Meg and the rest of her young life. The scare had passed and the pregnancy tests had all come back negative and life had gone on again. But Ali and Ashlyn had spent time talking about it afterwards and it had made them both wistful for the time long ago when they had been trying to get pregnant with their first baby. The talk had been romantic and nostalgic and sweet as they processed Meg’s big life scare.

Ashlyn had been longing for her wife for over a week by the time she boarded her flight home to Boston that Thursday night in March. By the time they had processed the pregnancy scare and worked their way through the wistful and romantic memories several days later, Ali’s period had arrived and they had been unable to physically connect the way they wanted to. Yes, they did sometimes have sex when either of them had their periods, but not very often and certainly not when one of them was enduring cramps or discomfort. Ali’s cramps had put a damper on Ashlyn’s anticipated send-off sex before flying to Florida too. The brunette reminded her that one night away from home hardly qualified as a trip long enough to warrant send-off sex in the first place. She had been trying to make a joke about it but wasn’t feeling well enough to really sell it.

The combination of the longing for Ali, sleeping in the basement bedroom of the Florida beach house where they had shared many a sultry night, and the whiskey at the airport bar had produced one hell of a dream for the tired keeper. She woke up surprised to find herself on an airplane instead of in bed with her beautiful brunette. Ashlyn had been genuinely alarmed at first and had to stop in the airport bathroom to splash some cold water on her face once she had deplaned in Boston. She felt confused by her surroundings and horny as hell. The hour-long drive to Gloucester had been a blessing and a curse. It was much too long for Ashlyn who wanted to bust through the door of the big old house and dive right into bed with her wife...right between her legs. On the other hand, Ashlyn knew Ali hated to be woken up. There was little to no chance any sex would be happening when she got home that night and she tried to use the time in the car to come to terms with that. The brunette had just spent two full days of mom-duty by herself, including having Becca Flanagan sleep over Wednesday night as usual. The keeper was sure her wife would be an exhausted, tense mess when she finally got home and waking Ali up, even if an orgasm was waiting for her at the end of it, would absolutely mean risking her own life. 

“Ash...that you?” the brunette’s tired voice croaked out at 2:05am as she lifted her head two inches off the pillow with her eyes still closed. She was sleeping on her left side, facing the fireplace and she tried to turn her head back over her shoulder but honestly wasn’t sure she had achieved that goal.

Ashlyn had just closed the bathroom door as quietly as possible so she could change into jammies and get ready for bed without disturbing her slumbering queen. It had taken her almost 30 minutes to greet the dogs and get them calmed down again. She opened the door a crack and whispered back into the darkness of the bedroom.

“Yeah baby. I’m sorry I woke you. I’ll be right there.”

“Mmm-kay” Ali dropped her head back down into the soft pillow and went right back to sleep, still without opening her eyes.

20 minutes later, after washing off the long, gross travel day in a quick shower, Ashlyn brushed her teeth, peed, dried her hair as best she could without turning on the hair dryer, got into her sleep shorts and t-shirt, and crept out of the master bathroom. She slid into bed with as little disruption to her sleeping beauty as possible. She had toyed with the idea of masturbating while she was in the shower – that’s how horny the dream had made her. She decided against it though, holding out a sliver of hope that Ali might be up for a rare middle of the night romp. She knew it was a longshot but she was willing to give it a try. The brunette’s period had ended Wednesday so there was no worry about that anymore. Why not give it a go?

Ashlyn rolled over and spooned her wife, pressing a soft, warm kiss into her shoulder, then into her neck, then into her ear. She let her right hand travel down Ali’s side and hip and ass, lingering just a bit at the back of her thigh before starting the return trip back up again.

“Mmmm” Ali hummed in her sleep as she backed up into her wife’s warm body. 

As soon as Ashlyn felt her wife’s ass press into her crotch, she was done for. Whether Ali was up for sex or not, the keeper was going to have to take care of herself or she was going to explode. 

“I missed you...” she spoke softly and seductively into the brunette’s ear, letting her lips kiss their way up the outer shell while she gently and slowly pushed her hips into that amazing ass, “...so much...baby...” 

Ashlyn sent her hand back down the side of her wife’s body again, this trip a bit more exploratory as she let her fingertips graze the side of her breast and the inside of her hip. She even slid her long fingers along the top of Ali’s thigh, sooooo close to her crotch on the way back up that the keeper felt her own heart skip a beat. The good news was that Ali hadn’t woken up and told her to fuck off yet. The bad news was that the brunette’s face was definitely in an unpleasant, almost wincing expression at the moment.

“God, you feel good...” Ashlyn moaned, again into her wife’s ear, and let her lips and tongue work lightly down Ali’s neck and the bit of exposed skin on her shoulder where her sleep t-shirt had been stretched while she slept. “So fucking good...” the keeper purred as her desire soared even further past the point of no return. “I wanna make you feel good baby...can I make you feel good?” the blonde asked bravely and optimistically as she brought her hand all the way up and cupped Ali’s right breast, cursing the goddamned t-shirt in her way.

“Mmphf” Ali frowned and took a big breath in as her head moved just a bit from side to side. It looked almost like she was trying to shake off a fly or mosquito or other annoying thing, but in slow motion. “Ash...what?...ugh...” she spoke roughly, eyes never opening as she pushed Ashlyn’s hand away from her breast and then her lips away from her neck. “I’m sleeping!” she whisper-yelled and pulled the covers up tightly to her neck as she scooched away from her keeper.

Ashlyn flopped back onto her side of the bed with a beleaguered sigh. She rubbed her face with both hands and then whispered back to her wife’s unwelcoming form. She had learned over the years not to take the rebuff personally, no matter how brutal the body language or actual language came off from her beautiful brunette. Ali was mostly asleep and it wasn’t really her fault.

“Sorry baby. Good night. I love you.”

She lay there for a minute trying to negotiate with her libido to no avail. The scent of Ali so fresh in her nose and the taste of her skin so delicious on her lips was too much for the keeper to stand. Ashlyn let out a frustrated breath and put her hand between her own legs. She was not surprised to feel her own juices, so plentiful that she had already left a wet spot in her shorts. Fuck it. She was so turned on that she knew she could get herself off in two minutes flat. Ali wouldn’t even know so she couldn’t be mad about being woken up again.

Ashlyn, her body completely under the covers, pulled one leg out of her shorts and used it to push them all the way down to the ankle of her other leg. She lifted her t-shirt up and started massaging her breasts and playing with her nipples with her right hand. She made sure to trail her fingertips down her sides ever so lightly, just the way she loved, before bringing them back to tug on her nipples again. Her left hand got busy between her legs, which were both up and bent at the knee. She was careful to tent the covers so they caused as little disturbance to Ali as possible. Ashlyn dropped her left leg down, out to the side so she could get where she needed to be faster and easier, and used her fingers to spread her passion all around her aching pussy. She rubbed her clit for a second, covering it with her juices, and then slid her fingers down both sides of her folds. Everything was alive and ready for action and the keeper thought maybe it would only take her one minute instead of two to give herself a nice orgasm.

Ashlyn finished tweaking her nipples after getting them almost to stiff points, and moved her right hand down to her drenched pussy lips. She dragged two fingers up and down through the wetness until they were covered, then pushed them inside her desperate core. Fuck, that felt good. Not as good as when Ali did it, but pretty fucking good. The keeper didn’t even bother with a bunch of pumping or thrusting. She squeezed her hand together and pushed her fingers up into her own g-spot rapidly. She quickly brought her left hand back up to her swollen clit and began rubbing it hard and fast, just the way she liked it. The bed shook with her efforts, but not so much that she thought it would wake her sleeping wife. It wouldn’t be more than another few seconds anyway, with as ready as Ashlyn had been to start with. 

The keeper arched her back as she felt the first inkling of her orgasm and wished she had another hand so she could pinch her nipples at the same time too. She closed her eyes, picturing her sexy fucking brunette in a rush of those sexy images she had woken up to in the airplane 2-1/2 hours earlier. She started to pant as she climbed towards her release. The bed shook some more. She pressed her lips together, rolling them inside her teeth to try and keep from crying out as the pleasure rose and built inside her. Then finally, in a rush, she came as quietly as a mouse, whimpering just the tiniest bit when she felt the orgasm wash over her. She kept rubbing and squeezing for a few seconds more while her eyes slammed shut and her body twitched and convulsed in ecstasy. Fuck that felt incredible. Goddamn and hallelujah. 

As her body came to rest, only her chest still heaving as she tried to catch her breath, Ashlyn tried to work her foot back into her shorts but was unsuccessful. She finally opened her eyes and started to lift the covers up when she felt Ali’s eyes on her. She looked quickly to her left and saw that the brunette had rolled over to face her with an odd look on her face. It was half sleepy, mostly sleepy really, but there was also some annoyance there and a good bit of lust too. Ali’s eyes were barely open but Ashlyn could swear she saw them darkening as they looked at each other in that moment.

“Shit, I’m sorry” Ashlyn panted out, still out of breath. “I tried not to wake you...” she gave her girl an awkward half-smile as she fished around for her shorts with her long arm. “I’m done...”

“I can see that” the brunette’s sleepy voice was thick and raspy and it only made Ashlyn want to fuck her more. Ali was still mostly asleep but the keeper thought she saw a smirk trying to form on her face. “That was fast” the brunette reached over and caressed Ashlyn’s shoulder and upper arm, gently tracing the cracked mirror tattoo with her fingertips. “I tried to come help but you were already finished” she said through a yawn.

“You were gonna help?”

“I was” she nodded after she finished yawning. All of her words were slow and sleepy and sexy as fuck to her keeper. “Quick trigger tonight huh?” Ali chuckled.

“You don’t know the half of it” Ashlyn laughed and groaned, frustrated with her day and her night and, more specifically, her goddamned sleep shorts.

“Tell me” Ali blinked at her wife and continued to trace the tattoos on her arm. Ashlyn pulled her t-shirt down and the brunette pulled it back up and then went right back to tracing the ink on her keeper’s side. “I love your boobs. Lemme see them for a few minutes” the brunette moved closer and yawned again.

“Don’t” Ashlyn whimpered and closed her eyes tightly as she tried to steel herself to her wife’s soft touch. “That barely did it for me and if you keep touching me I’m gonna have to go again.”

“What’s going on babe?” Ali started to get worried for a minute. “Are you ok? Is something wrong?”

“I’m fine” the keeper blew a breath out loudly and rubbed her face again. She started to chuckle and then moaned pathetically. “I missed you a lot, and we didn’t get to have sex before I left, and, I don’t know, I had this incredible, sexy dream on the plane and woke up absolutely on fire for you...”

“Aw, honey” Ali leaned over and kissed the top of Ashlyn’s bare arm which made goosebumps spring up there and Ali’s eyes get darker. “And I shut you right down” she frowned. “I’m sorry. I’m just so tired. It was a long day...”

“Shhh...” Ashlyn reached over and put her finger to Ali’s lips to quiet her. “It’s ok. I knew my chances weren’t good, but I gave it the ol’ college try” she chuckled and cupped her wife’s cheek. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

They gazed at each other for several seconds, smiling like fools in love, until another yawn broke the spell.

“Tell me about this super sexy dream” Ali requested after the yawn, the lingering taste of her wife’s passion-covered finger on her lips stirring dormant feelings.

“I don’t even know what happened” Ashlyn shook her head and chuckled again. “All I know is I woke up and thought for sure I must have had your pussy juice all over my face. I died when I saw the dude sitting next to me. I totally thought he was here in our bedroom or something. You know how fucked up dreams get?”

“But you don’t remember the dream? At all?”

“Nope. Just that it was fucking good. Mmmm...” she moaned softly and closed her eyes.

“For future reference, if you’re gonna come home and try to have sex with me in the middle of the night because of a sexy dream you had, the correct answer is to tell me I was the person you were having the sexy dream about” she rolled her tired eyes but couldn’t keep the small, sleepy smile from her face.

“Ooh, my bad” Ashlyn giggled. “Fair point” she nodded seriously. “Sorry. Again.”

“Ash, don’t ever be sorry about wanting to have sex with me” Ali’s voice was thick again but this time it wasn’t just sleep. The brunette let the backs of her fingers graze the side of Ashlyn’s breast and felt a thrill when more goosebumps appeared. “I love that you’re still a horndog for me” she gave the keeper a sleepy smirk and used the term Ashlyn herself had always used to describe the way she lusted after Ali’s body. The brunette moved her hand up to cup her keeper’s entire breast, softly squeezing it and letting her thumb rub across the semi-erect nipple. “I don’t want that to ever stop.”

“Al, seriously, don’t do this to me” Ashlyn groaned again and pulled her shirt back down. “I’m begging you.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have started having orgasms in here then” she shrugged and moved closer to her keeper, pressing a warm, open-mouthed kiss into her bare upper arm again. It was a definite mood change from the kiss she had left there a few minutes earlier. “It’s your own damned fault” she mumbled into the soft skin as she returned her hand to Ashlyn’s nipple.

They stared hard at each other for a couple of seconds and Ashlyn felt her entire body start to ache again when she saw the flicker of want light up in those whiskey-colored eyes. She raised her eyebrows in question, rolling over to face Ali and running her hand down the brunette’s side again. As soon as Ali nodded her permission with slowly darkening eyes boring holes into her keeper’s excited hazel ones, Ashlyn brought their bodies together and kissed her wife passionately. They made out for a couple of minutes but they were both eager to move along. Ali was tired and didn’t want to spend forever having sex that night, and Ashlyn was in a rush to quench her thirsty need for her wife.

“I know you’re tired” the keeper husked out as she rolled Ali onto her back and leaned across her chest to kiss her again. “You just lie here and let me take care of everything...” the words trailed off as Ashlyn pushed her wife’s t-shirt up and lavished her nipples with attention from her tongue and lips and teeth.

“Mmmm...” Ali hummed with a smile on her face as she stretched and then arched her body up into the contact. She kept her eyes closed and ran her fingers through Ashlyn’s still damp hair.

“Did you take a shower?”

“MmmHmmm...” the keeper ducked her head and shook her head back and forth so her chilly hair splashed down on the warm, dry skin of Ali’s stomach.

“Noooo!” the brunette squealed and pushed her wife’s head down, hoping to make her stop the playful torture.

“Now we’re talking” Ashlyn kept moving down her wife’s body, underneath the covers, leaving kisses along the way. “I’ve been dreaming about this” she purred as she rubbed her hand across Ali’s stomach to warm it up after her damp hair stunt. “Lemme at it...”

Ali lifted her hips so Ashlyn could pull her pajama pants off of her and she had barely lowered them back down onto the bed before the blonde pushed her legs apart and rubbed her hands up and down her thighs. She added her lips and nibbled her way up the inside of Ali’s thigh, trying to be as gentle as she could. The urge to take the brunette roughly in her hands and mouth was strong, built up over hours of unsatisfied want and desire, but Ashlyn controlled herself, somehow. She knew Ali was still half asleep and not in the mood for anything too aggressive. She willed herself to slow down and take her time, enjoying every lick and suck and nibble. 

“Mmmmmm...” Ali hummed longer and louder this time, holding her wife’s head in her hands again as soon as she could reach it. “Ash...mmmmm...”

“I’m right here baby...I love you...” the keeper mumbled into her wife’s Penn State tattoo. “I’m gonna make you feel sooo good...”

Ashlyn didn’t love working underneath the covers, neither did Ali for that matter, but the keeper knew her wife had been fast asleep and was snuggled in good. She would be cold and uncomfortable if they threw off the covers now. So Ashlyn did her best. She sure as hell wasn’t gonna complain about anything that night. She was ecstatic that she was going to get to taste her amazing wife...any second now.

“Love you...too...mmmmmm...” Ali answered back, sighing contentedly and enjoying the touches.

Ashlyn angled her wife’s lower body a bit towards the middle of the bed so she had more room to work between her legs. She laid on her stomach, reached up to caress Ali’s breasts with one hand, and worked the fingers of her other hand through the dark curls right in front of her face. She felt the butterflies in her stomach as she caught a whiff of the brunette’s passion waiting for her between her legs. She moved her fingers up and down, slowly and steadily circling Ali’s wet entrance and spreading her folds out. She took her time and massaged every inch of her wife’s gorgeous pussy, making sure to run her strong fingers up to her clit as well. Couldn’t forget the little bundle of nerves that was the key to unlocking orgasms for most women. Ashlyn slid her fingers up and down the sides of Ali’s clit that extended down either side of her pussy. Most people focused solely on the top of the clit itself but those in the know understood that there were nerve-endings along both sides of her entrance too. Rubbing and sucking there felt very very good and was a sure-fire way to get your girl revved up and ready to go. Ashlyn knew she was doing something right because Ali’s moaning had picked up and gotten louder, but was still muted because of her exhaustion and Ashlyn’s tenderness.

The keeper finally allowed herself a broad, steady lick from the bottom of Ali’s entrance all the way up to the top of her clit. It tasted like heaven and Ashlyn got light-headed for a few seconds. She felt her own clit aching and another gush between her own legs as she got ready to feast on her favorite pussy in the entire world. Ashlyn took another long, slow lick, steadied herself, and then pressed her whole face into the softest, sweetest flesh she had ever known. She breathed in Ali’s scent like it was the oxygen that she needed to survive. Her head spun again and she worked her tongue up and down and around and around and side to side, over and over again until she felt Ali’s hand tug hard on her damp, shaggy, blonde hair. Only then did she start repeating every single thing she had already done with her tongue, but this time with suction instead. She locked her mouth onto the brunette’s folds and sucked gently at first, letting her wife get used to the sensation. As soon as Ali moaned and tugged her hair again, Ashlyn started a third time around but sucked harder.

“Oh yeah...mmmmm...” Ali moaned and pushed the covers back as far as she could reach, too hot now with all the delicious build up and activity down there.

Ashlyn was happy about the fresh air, but a little sad too. It had been the best kind of dutch oven down there – she had been drowning in a sea of Ali’s unmistakable and sensual scent and didn’t want to be rescued. She felt and tasted another gush of juices from her wife’s core on her tongue and moaned into Ali’s soft folds.

“Mmmmmm...fuck, that’s good” she murmured the words into the brunette’s clit and made Ali suck in a sharp breath.

She may not have been into it at the very beginning, maybe she was only doing it to be nice to her wife, but Ali was into it now. This only made Ashlyn redouble her efforts.

“Fuck, Ashlyn...” the brunette gasped out as her wife began tending exclusively to her swollen and sensitive clit. “Oh yeah baby...”

The keeper used her tongue to trace circles around Ali’s bundle of nerves, pressing down hard enough but not too hard. She loved the way Ali was starting to move her hips, looking for more pressure, more contact, more...everything. This was one of Ashlyn’s most favorite things – watching her wife’s body respond to the different touches she gave her eager clit. It was like watching a dance – every move Ashlyn led with, Ali responded with one of her own. The keeper licked softly around the clit and Ali’s abdominal muscles contracted just a little bit. Ashlyn flicked her tongue across the clit and the brunette arched her back and grabbed a handful of shaggy blonde hair. She sucked the whole clit into her mouth and Ali gasped and lifted her hips up off the bed. The whole dance was a fucking masterpiece and Ashlyn the virtuoso conductor.

“Does that feel good?” Ashlyn asked rhetorically, moving her tongue faster as the circle got smaller and smaller until she was right on top of Ali’s aching clit.

“Oh, fuck...yessss...” 

Ashlyn knew she was doing a good job because, aside from the verbal responses the was getting and the hair tugging, she could feel both of Ali’s nipples hardening under her touch as well. They were both stiff and the brunette used one of her own hands to play with them too. The keeper kept her tongue working on Ali’s clit while she stroked and teased her entrance with her free hand. 

“Inside...” Ali exhaled desperately and then moaned loudly when Ashlyn pushed two fingers inside her pulsing pussy. “Oh God...yessssss...”

Ashlyn pulled her tongue back into her mouth and locked her lips tightly around the top of her wife’s sensitive nub. She sucked hard on it and slid her mouth back and forth without breaking the seal she had created. She felt Ali’s fist tug harder on her hair and kept up her clit work, adding in a few flicks here and there with her tongue at the same time. The brunette, who had started this version of sexy times mostly asleep and largely as a spectator, was now an eager participant. She pulled both knees up, kicking the rest of the covers all the way off the foot of the bed, and started grinding up into her wife’s face a little bit.

“Mmmmm...” Ashlyn moaned loudly into her wife’s clit, sending a bolt of pleasure through her system and making her gasp out loud again.

The keeper hadn’t moved her fingers much inside the brunette, instead choosing to keep things still inside those silky walls. Make her wait. Ali’s throbbing center was starting to constrict and press against Ashlyn’s strong fingers. It felt like they were nudging the keeper’s fingers along. Instead of thrusting and pumping, the blonde opted to do the same thing she had done for herself earlier. She pressed her fingers up into Ali’s g-spot at a slow, steady, rhythmic pace. As soon as the brunette felt the tantalizing pressure in another of her favorite pleasure points she groaned low and long and loud, squeezing her thighs together around her wife’s busy head for a few seconds before relaxing them again.

“Jesus...” Ali exhaled.

Ashlyn increased the pressure and pace into Ali’s g-spot while she continued to lick and suck on her clit at the same time. She had to abandon her wife’s breasts because she needed a hand to try and hold down Ali’s hips that were happily and hornily thrusting up into Ashlyn’s face. The keeper stopped sucking, needing a break, and let her tongue take over for a few minutes. She flicked her tongue back and forth across Ali’s swollen, aching, gorgeous clit as fast as she could, loving the approving squeal she got out of her wife for her efforts.

“You like that, don’t you?” she chuckled into Ali’s mound, taking another deep breath and marveling at how delicious the brunette smelled and tasted. “I know you do” she hummed as she got ready to flick some more. “I love it too...”

It didn’t take very long after that. Ali was a writhing mess, on fire with so many sexy sensations coming from so many of her favorite places. Ashlyn held her hips down and concentrated on getting her beautiful brunette over the finish line before her own clit exploded from all the excitement. To say the keeper was in need of another orgasm of her own was a gross understatement at that point. She sucked hard on Ali’s clit again, flicking it with her tongue at the same time.

“Yes! Fuck! Ashlyn!” Ali practically shouted all three words as her body got ready for her slow-building but incredibly powerful release. They both knew it was going to be a massive orgasm.

Ashlyn took one more breath before sucking and flicking harder and faster than she even thought possible, all the while pressing her fingers up into Ali’s g-spot at a fast and firm pace. She gave it everything she had for almost a full minute, only stopping when the brunette’s body came apart in her arms and mouth. It was such a big orgasm that Ali didn’t even get a word out. She squealed and then her entire body shook and twitched, her legs both shot straight out like rockets, and she pushed her wife’s head away from her over-sensitive bundle of nerves.

Ashlyn kept her fingers inside her wife but didn’t move them. She got the feeling that Ali didn’t want any more stimulation just yet. But she knew her brunette liked to have her fingers inside her for a few minutes after she came. The blonde would have stayed in that position for the rest of her life if she’d had her way. She rested her head on Ali’s right thigh for a moment, admiring the view and inhaling the fresh scent of more passion as if she were an addict taking another hit. She played with the dark curls, still long the way she liked them, and loved every single thing about that moment. She watched Ali’s body settle down after riding out her high. Her chest heaved and her small breasts jiggled slightly with each aftershock that rumbled through.

“Goddamn you are fucking gorgeous” the keeper leaned forward and placed soft kisses to the inside of her wife’s thighs. She licked up any juices she could find and kept gently running her fingers through her short hairs. “So fucking incredible.”

“Wow.”

“Wow is right my queen” Ashlyn grinned up at the love of her life who looked more than a little worn out by the workout her body had just been put through.

“No, but really...wow” Ali tried again to speak. “That was amazing.” She paused and chuckled as she played with the shaggy blonde hair at her hip. “Why don’t you wake me up like this more often?” she giggled before she even finished the sentence.

“Oh my God” Ashlyn laughed softly as they grinned at each other. “Because somebody gets all crankypants when you wake her up, that’s why.”

“I don’t know who you mean” Ali feigned ignorance and laughed despite her best effort not to.

“It’s like Russian roulette – waking you up” the keeper shook her head, still laughing. “You just never know for sure what’s gonna happen, but you know you’ve got a pretty good chance of dying...”

“Oh stop” Ali rolled her eyes. “But don’t stop” she winked at her sexy keeper, “that feels so nice.”

“I could do this for days...” Ashlyn inhaled deeply and let her eyes close in pleasure as her tongue kept gently cleaning things up.

“I know” Ali looked adoringly down at her keeper and smiled. “But I want to take care of you now...”

“It’s late” Ashlyn pressed one last kiss into her wife’s mound and started to crawl up her body. She planted sweet kisses on Ali’s skin in between her sentences. “I’ll just take care of myself real quick...”

“Ash...” the brunette pouted just a bit but accepted the romantic kiss Ashlyn gave her once she had made it up to the head of the bed again. “After you did that for me” Ali glanced down between her legs and quirked her eyebrow at her wife. “Now I’m just supposed to let you get yourself off? That’s not fair.”

“Al, it’s almost 3:30am. You’ve already made my night” she grinned as she slid to the side of her beautiful brunette but still held her close. “I’ve got this.”

“Nope” Ali shook her head and took advantage of the new position to roll Ashlyn onto her back and climb on top of her. “I want my turn. You woke me up in the middle of the night” she gave her wife a challenging look. “Now you think I’m just gonna give up my turn? I don’t think so” she shook her head and started to move her hands down her keeper’s body. She hit all the best spots in short order, knowing her time would be limited. She stifled Ashlyn’s next complaint by kissing her deeply. As soon as they broke for air she spoke once more. “Now we can keep arguing about this or you can let me get to work...”

Ashlyn opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a long, low moan as she felt her wife’s nimble fingers already teasing her drenched entrance. 

“Yaaaassssss my queen...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy that Pride game last night was brutal to watch for the first 20 minutes or so. It was pretty clear how much the backline relies on Ali to keep their shit relatively together. Pickett had a particularly bad first 20 minutes. Ash didn't really stand a chance. The positive I'm taking out of the game, yes - I kept my ass awake until 2am to watch that mess, is that they didn't quit. In a season where winning games seems like too big of an ask for my purple gals, not quitting when they're getting demolished is still a pretty big achievement. I'll never forget how they folded in the last game of the year last season. They played a horrible game against Sky Blue and gave them worst team in the league their one and only win of last season. That was ugly and it made me sick to my stomach. That didn't happen last night and it very easily could have. I'm proud of them for hanging tough and for never giving up. Camila's PK was fire. And there were a bunch of pretty good offensive chances the Pride made in the second half too. Let's see what happens Wednesday night back in Orlando.   
> Also - I miss seeing Ali Krieger play soccer. :(


	23. Manchester VA Medical Center

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok people, I'm at the point where I can post a chapter every day now instead of only 3 times a week. I'm almost finished, just working on the last couple of chapters and know I won't fall behind now. Thanks for your patience. Enjoy...

Ashlyn had continued her work with the VA hospitals in the area, focusing primarily on the closest one to her up in Manchester, NH. It was only a 90-minute drive up to the Manchester VA Medical Center and the keeper made about 4 trips a year, depending on how busy her schedule was. Sometimes she visited 6 or 7 times a year if she could make it work. Her original goal had been to go once a month but she soon realized that was not a realistic objective for her. Not while the kids were so busy with their activities and she and Ali so involved with coaching them and volunteering for school functions, etc. There were other VA facilities around but not too many. The whole VA system had undergone a major overhaul after President Elizabeth Warren took over. She righted a good many wrongs and inadequacies for the little people in the country’s benefit. 

The VA hospital where Ashlyn had spent an unscheduled afternoon with the President back in 2021, in urban Somerville, MA, had been closed but then replaced by a bigger, better, more efficient one on the South Shore of Boston. The Manchester VA Medical Center had also been restored to its full function after having the surgical and hospital services subcontracted out to nearby Concord Hospital in Concord, NH several years earlier. It had been a low point in the facility’s history and was a stark example of how badly managed and funded the entire Veteran’s Affairs system had become. Ashlyn could see with her own eyes how much better everything was in the refurbished Manchester VA hospital since the changes had been finalized 5 years ago. The revitalization and restoration of the VA hospital system across the country was one of the last things President Warren’s administration completed during their 8 years in the White House. Veterans and their families were now being taken care of like the heroes that they were.

Ashlyn used to go up with Fred, who was basically a big, friendly stuffed animal who would lick the hands and faces of the veterans and wag his tail non-stop during the entire 2- or 3-hour visit. There had been a 2-year period after Fred died when Ashlyn went up to the VA hospital without bringing a dog, and then she began taking 2-year old Logan with her two years ago. Logan was almost as chill as Fred had been but she looked a lot more intimidating and made some of the vets anxious. The cane corso Italian mastiff was bigger and thicker than Fred the caramel-colored mutt had been, but she was just as sweet. It usually didn’t take long for the dog-loving veterans to overcome any hesitation they had towards the 4-year old, big, dark dog. Logan was just as interested in licking hands and faces as Fred had ever been and her sweetness shone through once somebody looked into her face. Ashlyn was convinced that if Logan had a full tail that had been easy for everyone to see wagging behind her the introductions would have been much easier and faster. She may have had a point too.

The Krieger kids had been regular visitors as well. Ashlyn, after speaking with first Dr. Mattie Olsen and then Dr. Cassidy Emerson about it, brought one kid up with her at a time. She wanted to be able to pay attention to the child at the same time she was giving her time to the veterans so she kept it a 1:1 parent to kid ratio. It was a smart decision. She had taken the kids when they were as young as 6 or 7 but made it entirely optional for them. If 6-year old Josie got bored or seemed upset by some of the injuries she saw at the hospital, Ashlyn would take her to the employee break room for a few minutes and set her up with her coloring books. One of the staffers was always happy to sit with whichever one of the younger kids needed a break during their visits.

But once the kids turned 10, that magical threshold in the Krieger family, Ashlyn made the VA hospital visits a requirement. She insisted that the kids come with her, still one at a time and on a rotating schedule, and stay with her and participate in the visit. No electronics, or books, or coloring books as distractions. She and Ali both felt it was vitally important for all of their children to understand what it meant to be a free country and what sacrifices were involved in securing that freedom that they all enjoyed so much. 

Drew, as always because he was the oldest, almost 14, was the first to balk at having to take his turn volunteering with his Mama and Logan. It was Saturday March 26th and the family had just gotten home and settled after Becca Flanagan’s 8th birthday party. Ashlyn had been about to open her mouth to tell Drew exactly what she thought of his cowardly, lazy attempt to get out of his once or twice a year obligation. Before she got the chance, as they all sat around the nook table eating dinner the evening before the scheduled VA visit, Ali beat her to it. The brunette looked directly into her son’s amber eyes across the table and spoke clearly and firmly. She didn’t give him the death glare though. Instead, her gaze was a mixture of tough love and encouragement with just a touch of kindness at the very end.

“Well you’re going and I can’t believe you’re even asking us about not going” she nodded solemnly and took a beat to choose her words carefully. “We’ve all talked about this before” she looked at the other three kids at the table who all nodded affirmatively in reply. “This country owes everything to those soldiers and the least you can do is visit them with Mama every once in a while” she focused back on Drew. “You don’t have any problem pretending to be a soldier in all our video games” she dropped the hammer. “You can go up there tomorrow and talk to real soldiers and tell them how much you appreciate what they’ve done for you.”

“Can I go instead?” Dodge chirped up eagerly. “I’ll go!”

“You just had your turn Dodger” Ashlyn smiled at their youngest son. 

The 9-1/2 year old boy loved everything about soldiers which was a big reason why he wanted to be a police officer so much. He had wanted to be a soldier originally, but when his moms explained to him that soldiers went out into the world to fight for freedom instead of protecting it mostly in his own hometown, the then 5-year old had modified his desired occupation. Having Officer, then Sergeant, then Lieutenant Fulkerson become such a big figure in Dodge’s young life had only served to cement the decision in the boy’s head and heart. He wanted to wear a uniform and protect people but he wanted to be able to sleep in his own bed at night too, right there in Gloucester, MA.

“Are you taking Frankie this time?” Lily asked, already moving on from the tense discussion that Dodge had interrupted.

“No. She’s too young” the keeper replied as she looked over her shoulder to where the 9-month old puppy napped. Frankie was on her back, half in and half out of her small dog bed by the dormant fireplace, with all four of her feet up and slightly twitching through a dream. “Gotta wait til she’s at least 2.”

Drew had been looking down at his dinner plate, pushing the last few bites of pork chop around with his fork, while his younger brother and sister asked questions. He could feel his mom’s eyes still on him. They were burning a hole in his forehead. He didn’t really mind making the trip to the VA hospital very much, but he had complained without even thinking first. That was his m.o. those days – about almost everything not related to video games or sports. When he finally got the courage to look up again, he was relieved to see Ali’s loving brown eyes, so like his own, watching him carefully and without any judgment. She gave him a half-quirked eyebrow and a small smile and he knew he wasn’t in trouble. He also knew without a doubt that he was going to Manchester with his Mama the next day as planned. 

When Ashlyn, Drew and Logan walked into the VA hospital early that Sunday afternoon at the end of March, the old woman sitting at the reception desk stood up and grinned from ear to ear.

“Oh, it’s so good to see you again” she spoke as she walked nimbly around the desk and wrapped Ashlyn up in a warm hug. “I heard you were coming and made sure to be here today.” 

Mrs. Lightfoot was in her mid-80s and she reminded the keeper so much of her Gram that it was eerie sometimes. Ashlyn couldn’t be sure if it was because of her warm, accepting personality, her zest for life and active lifestyle that kept her able-bodied and sharp-willed, or the shared Native American heritage between the two of them. Whatever it was, she was drawn to this amazing lady who had been widowed almost 30 years ago and been volunteering at the VA hospital ever since. Grace Lightfoot’s late husband had been a career Army man. He had been drafted at 20 years of age to fight in the Korean War and then put his considerable gift for mechanics to use becoming an invaluable member of the Army’s engineering program. He went from enlisted man to Warrant Officer and spent the last 15 years of his life training and managing the Army’s young mechanics, stationed at Fort Devens in Northern Massachusetts. After a heart attack at age 55 ended his military career and life, his widow dedicated her time to helping as many soldiers as she could. She moved up to New Hampshire to live with her sister in 2004 and had been volunteering at the Manchester VA Medical Center ever since. She was a fixture there and had endured both the bad times when there wasn’t enough funding or even concern for the broken men and women trying to recover from their military experiences and injuries, and the good times after the government started to give a damn again back in 2020.

“Hi Grace” the keeper bent down and embraced the short, round woman who didn’t look any more Native American than her Gram had. “It’s good to see you.”

“And let me get a look at this fine young man now” the old woman appraised Drew after the hug. “Well now” she drew in a breath and beamed at the boy. “Aren’t you handsome, Drew?” she asked rhetorically, clucking her approval as she absent-mindedly patted Logan’s big head next to her. “You are gonna have all the girls just swooning over you when you get to high school” she winked at him and made him blush.

They spent the next 15 minutes catching up on each other’s lives before Grace gave Ashlyn the lowdown on who was around that afternoon. The old woman knew more than most because she was smarter than most and listened better than most. She knew which residents and patients got lots of visitors and which ones barely received any. She knew who liked dogs and who didn’t. She knew who might be stressed by having a kid there and who wouldn’t. She knew who was having a particularly rough time this Spring and who was doing better than usual. The invaluable intel helped Ashlyn map out their course of action so they could spend time with the most people while being as impactful as possible at the same time. As always, Ashlyn brought a Jeep full of Breakers gear and her own clothing line swag. She had learned, often the hard way, that hats, t-shirts, and sweatshirts were the most popular items. But calendars and the mini soccer balls were also a big hit. She always brought her softball glove with her, a pair of cleats, all of her soccer equipment, an American football, several soccer balls, and two changes of clothes. Sometimes a soldier wanted to play catch or kick a soccer ball around with her. Sometimes somebody feeling really good wanted to try and score a goal on her, still after all those years. She came prepared for all of those things, every time.

More often than not, the patients there wanted to talk and also hear Ashlyn talk. They asked about her experiences and thanked her for giving a damn. Ashlyn Harris may not have been the most popular or famous goalkeeper anymore, and the men and women in that VA hospital may not have been big fans of women’s soccer or seen her on the World Cup or Olympic broadcasts, but the patients there knew exactly who she was. They knew her because she had always been there for them. She had been visiting them for well over 10 years now and not just when cameras were rolling or there was a photo op to be gained. Ashlyn had made a big splash with her first American Express card ad back in early 2029. She had successfully lobbied the credit card company to partner with the ‘Semper Fi Fund’ to help military men and women get back on their feet and transition back to civilian life after their service was complete. That ad campaign had been one of American Express’ most popular and effective ever and she and they had raised millions of dollars for the ‘Semper Fi Fund’. Ashlyn Harris was a shining star to everybody in the military, whether they knew about her soccer past or not. Even the stodgiest, borderline-homophobic vets loved the keeper once they met her and talked with her. It was almost impossible not to see the sincerity and genuine love and respect behind her words and actions during those visits.

After almost three hours of talking, laughing, drawing, playing cards, judging an impromptu talent show, and ordering pizza in for lunch for everybody, the Krieger family visitors were spent and ready to start saying their goodbyes. It was 3:30pm and the goal was always to be home for Sunday night dinner. That was not to be missed and if the moms expected their kids to honor and respect their family tradition and rule, then they had to stick to it too.

“Hey Ash, do you remember me telling you about that buddy of mine? Last time you were here?” one of the older vets who had been in and out of the Manchester VA hospital for the past 5 years asked her as they shook hands. He was having trouble with one of his prosthetic legs and had to keep coming in to get it tweaked or to get his amputated leg tended to.

Ashlyn frowned as they walked to the lobby of the building, the vet pushing his wheelchair along next to her.

“I remember talking to you about him, yeah” she nodded as she tried hard to bring the details back to the front of her brain. “He was having a tough time...lost his job...” she repeated as much as she could remember.

“Yeah, that’s right!” the vet smiled appreciatively. “That’s him.”

“Ok” Ashlyn stopped a few feet from the door. She wanted both she and Drew to use the bathroom before getting into the Jeep for the ride home, but she wanted to say goodbye to this patient first. When he was ready. “What about him?”

“That’s him” the vet repeated himself and pointed to the parking lot they could both see through the big glass walls on either side of the double entry doors. “I told him you were coming today. He wants to meet you.”

Ashlyn studied the figure she saw huddled against the chilly New England afternoon. It was cold and blustery and there were still patches of snow on the ground, especially up in New Hampshire. The man in the parking lot was skinny and had his arms wrapped around himself as he tried to keep warm. He was tall, about 6’ 2”, with a scruffy beard that looked more white than brown anymore. He wore old scuffed construction boots, dirty jeans, and a coat that looked way too thin to be warm enough for a New England Spring. He had a Boston Bruins winter beanie hat pulled down over his ears and his greying dark, shaggy hair stuck out pointedly beneath it. He smoked a cigarette and paced back and forth in the empty handicapped parking spot in the first row of the parking lot, 20’ away from the front door.

“Is he a patient here?” the keeper asked while she watched the man slowly pacing back and forth.

“Nah, well, sometimes” the vet in the wheelchair shrugged. “He’s an old-timer. He’s been in and out a bunch of times for one thing or another.”

“That was a wonderful trick” Grace laughed as she, Drew, and Logan came into the lobby from another set of doors. “Did you teach her to do that all by yourself?” 

“No, my sister, Lily, she helped” Drew answered with a proud smile on his face.

“Of course she did” Grace chuckled. “She’s more dog than girl sometimes, isn’t she?”

Drew laughed and then they both turned their attention to what Ashlyn was looking at. 

“Who’s that Mama?”

“I don’t know yet bud” the keeper finally took her eyes off of the man in the parking lot and turned to face Drew and Grace. “Did you take her out?”

“Yeah, she peed. She’s good” he nodded as he held Logan’s leash.

Just then a staff member poked his head through the door to call the vet in the wheelchair back into the recreation room for his turn at the pool table.

“See ya next time Ash!” he called over his shoulder as he wheeled himself away. “Wish me luck on my game!”

“Good luck!” the keeper waved to the vet as he disappeared through the double swinging doors behind them.

“Do you know him?” Grace asked as she took her seat behind the reception desk again, nodding towards the parking lot.

“No” Ashlyn shook her head. “But he wants to meet me” she shrugged as she turned to face the old woman who was looking at the man in the parking lot. “Do you know who he is?”

Grace pursed her lips and squinted a bit.

“That’s Jerry. I can’t think of his last name right now, but his name’s Jerry” she squinted again, trying to get more information out of her brain. “He’s been in and out. He’s an army vet, that I know for sure. I think he was in Iraq – the first war, Desert Storm” she nodded thoughtfully. 

“Why isn’t he coming inside?” Drew asked the obvious question.

“He doesn’t like to be...in close quarters” the old woman chose her words carefully.

“What does that mean?” Drew cocked his head in confusion.

“It means he likes to be outdoors or in big, open spaces” Ashlyn replied, looking back to the man in the parking lot.

“Oh, does he have, like, claustrophobia?”

“So handsome and smart too?” Grace winked at Drew.

“Kind of but maybe not officially” Ashlyn answered her son, suspecting the ex-soldier might be suffering from PTSD as so many of them did. “It’s different for everybody I think.” They were all quiet for a minute, watching Jerry through the glass walls of the entrance way. “Anything else I need to know before I talk to him?” she asked Grace over her shoulder.

“Well,” Grace lowered her voice for the sake of privacy, although they were alone in the lobby. “He’s a drinker” she gave Ashlyn a warning look. “And he’s usually got a friend with him, but I don’t see him out there today.”

“Is he homeless?” Drew asked another good question.

“I believe he is” Grace nodded again. “Especially now that the weather’s starting to get a bit warmer. The winter is the worst for men like Jerry” she explained as they all kept their eyes on the man pacing in the parking lot again. “They have to go stay in a shelter because it’s so cold, and they really don’t feel comfortable there.”

Ashlyn looked at her watch. They had to get on the road in a few minutes.

“You stay here with Logan for a couple of minutes” she patted Drew on his shoulder and Logan on her head. “I’ll be right back. Then we’ve gotta hit the road.”

“You’re not going out there by yourself, are you?” Drew’s face registered shock. “What if he’s a psycho or something?”

“He’s not a psycho” the keeper reassured him with a smile. “I’m just gonna say hi. He wanted to meet me so that’s what we’re gonna do. I’ll shake his hand, talk for a minute, and then we’ll go.”

“Mama...” Drew’s anxious face looked up at his mother’s smiling one.

“Besides, he looks old. No offense Grace” she winked at the old woman behind the reception desk. “I think I’d put my money on you vs him anyway and I’ll bet you’ve got 20 years on him” Ashlyn laughed. “If he makes me nervous I’ll just walk away. I’m faster than him by a mile.”

That seemed to placate the boy but Logan stood at rapt attention, pulling Drew right up to the glass entrance wall as she watched Ashlyn walk out the door and over to the stranger in the parking lot. The hair on the back of her neck wasn’t up though, she hadn’t sensed danger. But she was not happy about her human going out there without her either.

“Your Mama sure is a good one” Grace said quietly as she stood next to Drew and Logan. “She knows what she’s doing.”

The three watched Ashlyn approach the man, stopping about 6’ away from him. All they could do was observe. They couldn’t hear anything and they couldn’t see much except for Ashlyn’s back and most of the man’s head and face that stood up 5” higher than the top of the blonde’s head. He looked surprised and suspicious but he didn’t make any movements towards her or do anything sketchy. He stopped pacing.

“Hi, I’m Ashlyn. One of the guys inside, a friend of yours, he said he told you I was coming today and that you wanted to meet me” the keeper explained carefully, trying to keep her voice and her movements slow and easy. She didn’t want to startle or spook the man and it was hard to know what his triggers might be. “So here I am” she smiled warmly at the man, hoping to put him at ease.

It took a minute but he stopped fidgeting and took a step closer to Ashlyn, pulling the hat off of his head in an endearing act of chivalry. The thin wisps of white and brown hair from the sides of his head whipped around his bald pate in the chilly wind.

“I...” he stammered, cleared his throat and tried again. “I’m Jerry, er...Jeremiah. I’m Jeremiah Raymond and I...” he stopped again and closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them again he stuck one long arm out towards Ashlyn, hand extended with withered old fingers pointing in a couple of different directions. “I’m Jeremiah Raymond, and I’m pleased to meet you.” He cleared his throat as they shook hands. “I think you might be my cousin.”

//

It took another 2 weeks and three different meetings with the man before Ashlyn was convinced they were indeed related. She had done her own family tree years ago, with some help from the New England Historic Genealogical Society again. Without the names of the men involved in cousin Jeremiah’s side of the family it had been impossible to learn more than his first name and date of birth. And Grandma Lilian’s bible already had that information in it. Ashlyn knew she had a cousin named Jeremiah who she thought, according to family lore, lived in New Hampshire. But that was all she had ever known. 

Jeremiah’s mother, Elizabeth Mariah Burnham, was Ashlyn’s mother’s first cousin. Ashlyn’s mother’s father, Grandpa John, John Edward Burnham II, was the brother of Jeremiah’s Grandmother, Sarah Eliza Burnham. The page from Grandma Lilian’s bible had listed the Burnham family tree this way:

‘John Edward Burnham, b. 10-13-1894 d. 1-26-1958  
Married 4-10-1918  
Elizabeth Sarah Leavitt, b. 3-31-1900 d. 7-21-1964

Children  
John Edward Burnham II, b. 3-19-1920 d. 5-2-2001  
Married 6-8-1943 Lilian Elizabeth Dodge

Sarah Eliza Burnham, b. 11-20-1922 d. 6-27-1996  
Children Elizabeth Mariah Burnham, b. 9-3-1947  
Children Jeremiah Edward Burnham, b. 12-29-1969’

That made Ashlyn and Jeremiah contemporaries, just like Ali was with Deb’s cousin Diana’s daughters. As the keeper thought about that comparison her mind was blown. There weren’t too many differences between Ali and her Virginia cousins. They were all married with kids and living normal, busy lives. The biggest difference was that Ali was a lesbian and Diana’s two daughters were straight. But when Ashlyn tried to compare her life to Jeremiah’s...she didn’t even know where to start. Did they have anything in common besides their grandparents?

“I wanna get to know him Al, I don’t know why you’re so against that!” Ashlyn raised her voice as she angrily got up from the big work table in her third floor studio, nearly knocking the rolling stool over behind her.

It was Sunday night, April 10th, and the keeper had seen Jeremiah that afternoon. It was the third visit and she had made the trip alone, not even bringing Logan with her. Ashlyn made it home in time for Sunday dinner with the family, but Ali could tell her keeper was troubled. As soon as the kids were in bed Ashlyn went up to the studio and closed the door. Ali left her alone for two hours before going up to check on her on her way to bed. Her innocent questions about the stranger, or, at best, very distant relative, had set Ashlyn off without warning.

“Hey!” Ali’s eyes narrowed at the sudden outburst, not to mention the noise. Josie’s bedroom was directly below them. “First of all, keep your voice down” she gave her wife a medium-sized quirk of her eyebrow, still trying to keep her own temper under control. “Second of all, I never said I was against you getting to know him” she let the words come out evenly as she willed herself to stay calm.

Ashlyn was pacing the length of the table, up and back on the other side of it. She had one arm folded across her torso with the other one bent up at the elbow so she could chew on her thumbnail.

“You just said he shouldn’t come down for a visit...” the keeper turned and pointed aggressively at her wife.

“I said I didn’t think bringing him to Easter next Sunday was a great idea until we knew him better ourselves” Ali corrected and cocked her head at her wife. She didn’t appreciate anything about the way Ashlyn was behaving towards her that night. “Why are you so upset right now Ash? What’s going on?”

“I’m NOT upset!”

They both stood there staring at each other. Ali’s face was full of surprise and concern with some anger mixed in. Ashlyn’s was anxious and tired.

“Ok then” Ali took a deep breath after a brief pause, hoping her wife would apologize or at least admit she was having some kind of issue regarding her long-lost cousin. But she didn’t do either. “I’m going to bed. I came up to check on you and I’m sorry I upset you. I didn’t mean to...”

“No, I’m sorry” Ashlyn sighed heavily and let her chin drop to her chest and her arms fall to her sides. “Fuck” she murmured as she grabbed the back of her own neck with one hand and kept her eyes on the floor. “I’m so torn up about what to do. I...I just can’t see where I’m supposed to go with this, with him.”

When she lifted her eyes a few seconds later they were brimming with tears.

“Aw honey, come here” Ali’s anger disappeared immediately and she moved to her wife and hugged her. “It’ll be ok. We’ll work it out” she rubbed her hand slowly up and down Ashlyn’s back while the keeper cried over her shoulder in the hug. “Shhhh...everything’s gonna be ok. You don’t have to get it all figured out tonight. Right?”

“Yeah” Ashlyn whimpered through her tears. “You’re right.”

The keeper didn’t say anything else until they had gone downstairs and gotten ready for bed. Her brow stayed furrowed the whole time and the brunette didn’t ask any more questions. She knew Ashlyn was really struggling with this one. 

“Good night love” Ali kissed her wife’s cheek from her position as the big spoon. She was happy to wrap Ashlyn up and hold her that night, as long as she needed her to. “Try and get some sleep. It’ll all be clearer in the morning.”

“That’s what Gram used to say” Ashlyn’s soft voice spoke almost a full minute later. For the first time since coming home for dinner that night she sounded a little bit like herself. “I miss her.”

“I miss her too. A lot” Ali gave her girl a soft squeeze as they both started to get sleepy. She could feel her keeper’s body starting to relax in her arms.

“I keep wondering what she would tell me to do, you know, if she was here.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure that you’ll do what she would have told you to do” the brunette gave her wife’s shoulder a gentle kiss. “You’re using all the wisdom she gave you, every day, in every decision you make.”

“You think?”

“I know. I see it, babe. You might not, but I do.”

They were quiet for a few moments but both minds were still working. Ali trying to figure out what had made her wife so upset and Ashlyn trying to decide how to handle Jeremiah.

“I feel guilty. No matter what I think is the right thing to do, I feel guilty about it.”

“With Jeremiah? Or are we still talking about Gram?”

“No, with Jeremiah. I can’t...I don’t know what to do” Ashlyn’s anguished voice broke her wife’s heart.

“What are the options you’re thinking about? Can you tell me?”

“If things were different, I’d want him to be part of our family. Because he is. Part of our family, I mean, he’s my cousin – some kind of cousin anyway.”

“But?”

“But things aren’t different” Ashlyn’s voice lowered and filled with sadness. “He’s a stranger, but more than that, he’s really fucked up. He’s at least got PTSD, he’s an alcoholic, he’s not great with people...” she sighed heavily. “And I feel like an asshole saying that. Like I’m judging him and his life without even knowing much about him. What kind of an asshole does that?”

“How old is he again?”

“He turned 63 in December. It’s right. I checked in the bible too.” The keeper answered the question and then got right back to talking out her options. “And the problem with all of his...problems is that I don’t want that around the kids, or you.”

“Or you either. You can get hurt just as easily as the rest of us” Ali offered softly. “Probably more than the rest of us because you’re the one who keeps meeting with him.” She felt Ashlyn’s body tense up. “No, I’m not saying you shouldn’t be meeting him” Ali sighed and a bit of exasperation came out with it. “Relax honey. I’m on your side.”

“I just don’t know if he can change. Hell, I don’t even know if he wants to try and get better” Ashlyn shrugged. “But I want to help him Al. I want that more than anything.”

“Do you want that for him, or for you?”

“What does that even mean?” Ashlyn rolled over and frowned at her wife. “You think I want to help him just to make myself feel good? What the fuck?”

“Ashlyn, calm down” the brunette put her hand on her wife’s chest, hoping the steady contact would help keep her from getting worked up again. “I asked a question, that’s all. I’m not saying anything, either way. I don’t know the answer and I’m not sure you do either.”

“Well I know I’m not that much of a jerk” Ashlyn’s eyes flashed with anger and confusion. “I don’t want him to get better just so I’ll feel good about it. I want him to get better so we can get to know him and he can be part of our family. I think that’s what Gram would want too.”

“That’s good then” Ali tried to smooth things over. “I just want you to be sure, that’s all. Sometimes we think we’re helping and it’s not really what the other person wants. Sometimes they can’t handle it and it’s harder on them than whatever situation they’re already in. Do you know what I mean?”

They had both heard multiple stories from the addicts in their lives about people, often other addicts, who needed help but couldn’t handle it. It didn’t matter how much you wanted and tried to help a drunk. If they weren’t willing to change, nothing was going to change. Sometimes even if they wanted to change, they still couldn’t manage to make it work. And that left the people, big-hearted people like Ashlyn Michelle Harris Krieger, on the sidelines with nothing but hurt feelings and dashed hopes for their efforts.

“Yeah, I know” the keeper’s voice was heavy with disappointment as she nodded slowly.

“He’s pretty old” Ali continued carefully. “Not that he’s too old to make changes, but my point is that he’s been living this way for a long time. And he has a lot of issues. Even if we could help him with one...well, I’m sure he needs to drink to help him with his PTSD. And his PTSD is probably complicated by all the alcohol in his system.”

“I know, I know” Ashlyn sighed again and rolled all the way over so she could hug her wife again. She pulled Ali in close and intertwined their legs while their foreheads pressed together. “See how hard this is? And I can’t just pretend I didn’t meet him. I’m not gonna just get on with my life and pretend he’s not sleeping on the street somewhere, cold and hungry and alone...” she started to get upset again and her eyes began to fill up.

“Shhhh...don’t cry honey” Ali cooed. “We’ll help him as much as we can. Of course we will” she kissed Ashlyn’s forehead and let her lips linger there for a minute while her keeper tried to calm down again. “This isn’t all on you either you know. He’s a veteran who served our country. He should be getting more help from the VA hospital too. We can make sure he gets more involved there, so he gets the help he needs.”

“Ok” the blonde nodded and took a few deep breaths.

“And you should go and spend time with him when you can. You can get to know him and learn about his story and his life, fill in all those blanks in Grandma Lilian’s bible on that side of the family.”

“I feel like I owe that to Grandpa John and Grandma Lilian” Ashlyn sniffled and nodded with a small smile. “And I want to know him. I need to know him.”

“I know you do Ash. I know” Ali gave her wife’s lips a soft kiss. “And you will. And once you do, if you think it’ll be ok to have him come spend a holiday with us sometime, then I’m all for it.”

“God, yeah, I’m sorry about the Easter thing” she rolled her eyes and groaned at what a bad idea she had proposed to her wife up in the studio that night. “I was having such a hard time...”

“It’s alright” Ali chuckled and relaxed when she heard her keeper join her. “You would have realized it was a mistake before you actually made it happen. I have no doubt.”

“You’re not mad that I wanted to bring a volatile drunk I barely know to our family Easter next weekend?” Ashlyn’s honest, seeking eyes locked onto Ali’s kind and loving ones. She wasn’t trying to be funny. She was genuinely asking.

“I’m not mad babe” Ali used the back of her fingers to caress her wife’s soft cheek, smiling into those stormy hazel eyes. “I trust you Ashlyn. I trust you with my life and with the kids. I know you’ll never do anything to put us at risk.”

It was the kind of thing that both moms believed about each other and usually didn’t need discussing. It was part of the pact good parents made when they brought a child into the world. If you didn’t trust your spouse you shouldn’t be having kids with them in the first place. But even though it was a basic and constant belief between Ashlyn and Ali, it still felt good to hear it every once in a while. It was nice to have your wife tell you how much she believed in you and trusted you. It felt like a million bucks to the keeper that night, that was for sure.

“How do you always do that?” Ashlyn smiled widely, despite the late hour and the difficult subject matter. “Make me feel like the best wife and mom in the world when I was doubting if I was even a half-decent human being an hour ago. How do you do that, every time?”

“Oh my love” Ali blinked softly at the love of her life, incredibly moved by the emotional moment. She took a quick breath to steady her voice. “It’s easy because you ARE the best wife and mom in the world. And you’re one of the most decent humans on the entire planet too” she smiled and her nose crinkled up as her heart overflowed with love. “I love you and your big heart so much and I’m so damned lucky to be a part of your life Ash. I’ll never take that for granted. Not ever.” 

Ashlyn’s whole body felt like it was slipping into a warm bath full of her wife’s loving, emotional words. She felt peace and relaxation start to reclaim some space inside her addled brain and stressed out muscles. She nuzzled into Ali’s neck, breathing the scent of the beautiful brunette in deeply. Ashlyn felt her body start to calm down and prepare for sleep and she was relieved by the quiet that was finally overtaking her mind. She had never known a safer place than in her wife’s loving arms. She let Ali rub soothing circles into her back and gently work her nimble fingers through her shaggy blonde hair as sleep crept closer and closer.

“Love you...so much” Ashlyn mumbled into the brunette’s neck and drifted off to sleep.

Knowing she had Ali’s support meant everything to the keeper and it was only after finally hearing those words that she was able to let the problem go unsolved for the night. Ashlyn knew she would figure it out with her wife’s help. Laying there in the brunette’s arms made anything seem possible. Anything.


	24. Patriots Day at Fenway

When the Boston Marathon bombing happened on Monday April 15th back in 2013, the whole world took notice. The marathon was always held on Patriots Day and it was one of the biggest, most popular, best-attended events all year in Boston. The terrorist action impacted the lives of every Bostonian and most everybody in New England, and killed three innocent people in the process. The number of people who had been left injured was over 200. The number of people who had lost limbs was almost 20. It had been a gruesome day that led to a tense, terrifying week as the authorities chased down the two assholes who had detonated the bombs. One of the bombers was killed in a shoot-out with police 3 days later, although forensics revealed that he had died when his co-conspirator - his own brother, ran him over trying to escape in the stolen getaway car. 

The whole city, all of metropolitan Boston and the surrounding towns and cities, went into lockdown mode as the final hunt for the surviving bomber intensified. It had been eerie as hell for everybody and all of New England was glued to their tvs and phones for information for one of the longest days anyone could ever remember. Kids didn’t go to school. Non-essential workers didn’t go to their jobs. Public transportation was shut down. All the while, there was a desperate, armed, dangerous terrorist still in their midst, somewhere. It was creepy and stressful as hell. The first bomber was killed in the wee hours of Friday morning, April 19th, and the second wasn’t apprehended until after 8pm Friday night. 

The Boston Red Sox had finished hosting their annual Patriots Day game against the New York Yankees and headed to the airport just before the bombs went off. From Cleveland, where they played a 3-game series, they watched in horror as the tragic events unfolded back in their hometown that week. They flew to Boston for their next home game, scheduled for Friday April 19th, with heavy hearts and wishing there was something they could do to help bring peace and hope to their fans and their city. The Friday night game had to be postponed because the city was still in lockdown, but it was rescheduled for Saturday afternoon at 3pm. The city and the whole grieving area were jubilant once the lockdown ended late Friday night. The news that the second bomber had been caught, hiding in a covered boat in somebody’s suburban backyard like the cowardly piece of shit he was, gave everybody a boost of energy, even many of the wounded. Nobody got too excited though. It wasn’t a joyous occasion because they were all still grieving and coming to grips with the tragedy that had struck their city and stained their beloved marathon day tradition. 

But there was optimism. The citizens were resoundingly, and rightly, praised for their cooperation and vigilance during the manhunt and lockdown. Bostonians came together in defense of their city and of their own like never before. It was truly something incredible to behold. Boston Strong was more than just a catchy phrase to the people of Boston and New England. It was a unifying pledge and belief in one another. The city hadn’t seen or felt anything like it since right after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 back in 2001. That feeling of solidarity. The sensation of belonging to a community that cared about each other and was truly looking out for one another. It was difficult to watch the injured and wounded try to recover and return to their lives. The whole city mourned the three young lives that had been lost in the bombing, as well as the life of the MIT policeman who had been shot and killed by the terrorists during their chaotic attempt to escape. The sadness that enveloped everyone and everything was palpable. All four lives lost were tragic, but to watch a family mourn for their sweet, smiling 8-year old son was devastating for anyone with a heart. 

But there was hope and belief that Boston was strong and would survive and find a way to keep going. That tiny spark of hope and optimism received a boost the size of a blowtorch from David Ortiz, Big Papi, on Saturday at the rescheduled Red Sox game. He famously reclaimed the city and uplifted the hearts and souls of millions when he gave a rousing pre-game peptalk to a sold-out Fenway Park, proclaiming ‘This is our fucking city!’ loud and clear. It was exhilarating and inspiring and just what everyone wanted and needed to hear, whether they realized it or not. It galvanized the city and kept Boston Strong in reality too. 

The Red Sox played the Kansas City Royals and beat them 4-3 that Saturday afternoon. Behind the scenes, the Red Sox had been scrambling all week long, trying to get the home uniforms ready for that first game back in front of the Fenway faithful. Special jerseys had been rushed, at the Red Sox’ expense, and debuted that Saturday afternoon with a couple of important changes. Both teams wore Boston Strong patches on their uniforms, right over their hearts, which were warmly received and appreciated. But a more subtle switch was the lettering across the front of the jerseys themselves. Normally, Red Sox home jerseys are white with red lettering. The player’s number is on the back and ‘Red Sox’ is across the front, chest-high. But after getting special permission from Major League Baseball and several other powers that be that typically made uniform alterations a pain in the ass, the word ‘BOSTON’ appeared in big red letters across their chests instead. Never in the history of the Red Sox had they worn anything other than ‘Red Sox’ across their chests, until Saturday, April 20th, 2013.

The special Patriots Day jerseys became an annual tradition. Every year when the Red Sox hosted the Yankees in their morning game, scheduled so fans could make their way over to the finish line to watch the marathon winners come in after the baseball game, the big red letters read ‘BOSTON’ and the Boston Strong patches were applied to the white home jerseys. To make it even more special, the game-worn jerseys were all signed by their respective players and auctioned off for charity. The players, instead of signing where they normally would – inside their numbers on the back, added their names to the front of the jersey, right underneath the ‘BOSTON’. 

Boston had recovered from the bombings by 2033 when the Krieger and Dwyer families attended the 11am Patriots day ballgame, but would never forget. The Red Sox still wore those special ‘BOSTON’ jerseys, and bombing survivors still came out and threw out the first pitch with their prosthetic limbs and courageous hearts. It had become a beloved, bittersweet part of Boston’s Marathon day tradition and wasn’t going to fade away anytime soon.

Ali and Sydney were usually volunteering at the marathon and unable to go to the Red Sox game on Patriots Day. But sometimes they changed things up. Other times, mostly after they became busy moms with so many things on their schedules, they forgot to sign up as volunteers before the cut-off date. That year, on the 20th anniversary of the bombing, they took their families to the Red Sox game on Patriots Day April 18th 2033, to commemorate the day. It helped that both Drew and Cassius were big baseball fans too. They loved soccer, of course, but they were the biggest lovers of America’s pastime in the four families. All 5 Dwyers and all 7 Kriegers took in the game on what was a very hot and humid mid-April day. Ali felt bad for the runners who always preferred cooler weather to try and complete the marathon. But Spring in New England was a fickle bitch and anything could happen, especially in the month of April.

“It’s soooo hot” Josie whined, leaning her sweaty cheek against Ashlyn’s equally sweaty bicep.

“Well get off of me” the keeper said only half-joking, as she leaned away from her daughter, “sticking to me isn’t gonna make either of us any cooler.”

“Hey Jose, let’s go take a walk” Ali offered, leaning forward from 3 seats away. “We’ll go fast and make our own breeze.”

“Keep your eye out for the boys” Dom got the brunette’s attention as she stepped into the aisle and waited for Josie to join her. “They went to the loo but it’s been a while.”

“Gotcha” Ali rolled her eyes. “I’m sure they’re probably in somebody else’s seats somewhere” she tried to look at the seats down closer to the field.

The group had two rows of good seats behind home plate, but higher up and off to the first base side just a bit. Ali had carefully selected them to try and keep the kids in as much shade as possible during the game. They were still on the lower level of seats, but up higher so the level above them offered some cover from sun or rain. They were in one of the more expensive sections of the ballpark, although the really wealthy fans usually used the air-conditioned suites upstairs. Still, that area of the ballpark behind home plate had a decidedly less-plebian feel to it. The concessions and bathrooms underneath were often cleaner and nicer than the ones underneath the outfield bleachers, for example. Part of that could be attributed to the enormous number of college students and younger folks who could only afford the price of the bleacher seats. Those were often the same young people who drank too much beer, forgot to wear sunscreen, and passed out from heat stroke before the end of a summer afternoon game. People of all kinds came to Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox. Rich, poor, black, white, gay, straight, male, female. It had always been a nice place to come and spend an afternoon or an evening with friends or family. There were outliers – obnoxious bigots and racists and assholes who always seemed to find their way into every venue all across the country, but they were normally few and far between. 

Having the Fenway Park detail if you were a Boston cop was one of the most coveted shifts you could pull. You had to work your way up and earn it. There were no rookie cops working at any of the sports venues in the city. The cushiest jobs were nearest the field, with the bullpen duty being the best. All you had to do, for the most part, was stand there and make sure no nutty fans jumped into the bullpen before, during, or after the game. Another good spot was up on top of the Green Monster, monitoring the crowd who splurged for the most expensive outdoor seats in the Park. Being in the rest of the stands was good, but there was a lot more to do. The more people around, the more work for the cops to do. Being underneath the stands in the cramped and crowded concourse areas where the concession stands and bathrooms were, was probably the most challenging. Somebody dumb and drunk almost always tried something stupid and got pinned to the ground and arrested before the game was finished.

Ali, Josie, and James walked as briskly as they could through the concourse area under the stands behind home plate. When that failed to produce the cooling results the young redhead was looking for, Ali stopped and bought them all sno-cones. As they stood off to the side, enjoying what they could of a fan set up to keep the concession workers as cool as possible, Ali saw Drew and Cassius running through the highly populated area and tossing a baseball back and forth between them. 

“Hey!” she shouted and took a few steps towards them, trying to get the angle right so they would see her before they ran past. “Drew! Cut it out!”

“Ok Mom!” he replied as they trotted to a stop a few feet away. 

Both boys saw the sno-cones and came over, their teenage cheeks bright red from exertion. Cassius was a 15-year old freshman in high school and Drew was a month shy of his 14th birthday, still in 8th grade. Josie was 11-1/2 and in 6th grade, and James an 11-year old 5th grader. 

“Where have you guys been? Your dad wants you back in your seat” the brunette nodded at Cassius, her face stern. “You can’t be running around like that, you know better, both of you” she frowned at both teens. “Here” she handed Drew some cash and pointed towards the sno-cone vendor. “Go get yourselves one and get back up there. Hurry up” she grabbed the baseball as Cassius tossed it in the air again. “And give me that” she chuckled, despite her frustration. They were just kids having fun after all, but this was not the place or the time for it. “Alright let’s go guys” she turned back and led Josie and James on the walk back to their seats for the last few innings of the game. 

She was hoping to get out of the fray before the 7th inning stretch when everybody made their way to the beer carts before last call. The seventh inning stretch was Josie’s favorite part of going to a Red Sox game because of the long-standing tradition of singing ‘Sweet Caroline’ at the top of her lungs with 37,000 other Red Sox fans. But a few minutes later, just as they were making their way back to their entrance ramp, a group of foreign tourists bumped into them and Josie’s sno-cone bit the dust. They apologized in what Ali thought was Chinese and moved away like a singular, flowing, amoeba-like mass.

“Mo-ommm, it fell” she whined.

Ali was trying to be patient because she knew how uncomfortable her fair-skinned girl got in the sun and the heat. Josie just couldn’t handle it and never had been able to, even when she was a baby. Ali and Ashlyn had always taken extra precautions with her and made sure there was a way to keep her cool, at least for short breaks, while they were out on family adventures.

“Come on Jose” Ali shook her head and sighed. There were so many bodies, hot sweaty smelly bodies, all around them and she just wanted to get back to their seats so she could sweat in peace. “You can do better than that. You wouldn’t have let Dodge knock that out of your hand.”

“Here, have mine” James offered with a smile. Yes, he was that kid. The unfailingly nice one with the easy smile and big heart that complimented his laid-back style so perfectly.

“No, that’s alright” Ali smiled at him. “I’ll get another one. Here, take mine” she handed her sno-cone to Josie and said over her shoulder. “You guys stay here.”

The brunette moved forward to the next sno-cone vendor instead of going back to the one Drew and Cassius were at because the one ahead of her was closer. The line wasn’t very long and Ali had the fresh sno-cone in a matter of 10 minutes. She was almost back to Josie and James when something caught her eye, off to the left on the edge of the concourse away from the entrance ramps back up to the ballpark which were on her right. It was a commotion about 20’ away, a ruckus of some kind and she heard people gasp and shout. She turned towards it, without even thinking, squinting to try and understand what was going on. She saw a police officer running towards the small crowd that was gathering, his hand on his holstered weapon and his face grim. Ali could hear some distinct voices, she heard ‘he didn’t do anything!’ and ‘leave him alone!’ and ‘he’s just a kid!’. Her heart dropped. 

Everything moved in slow motion after that. She looked to her right, spotting Josie and James standing where she had left them. They were straining their necks and standing on tiptoes to try and see what was going on too. Josie glanced up and Ali nodded at her.

“Stay there” she instructed. 

The look on her face must have been something terrifying because Josie swallowed hard and nodded meekly in reply when she saw it. Ali turned back to the crowd that was getting bigger and started moving towards it, walking fast but feeling as though it was taking forever to get close. She took one more look towards the concession area, zeroing in on the sno-cone vendor where she had last seen Drew and Cassius. They were nowhere in sight. There was a chance they could have gotten their sno-cones, walked past Josie and James, and made their way back to their seats already, but it was not very likely. That would have required them to move quickly and efficiently and follow Ali’s instructions promptly. Fat chance of that happening. The bilious taste of fear filled the brunette’s mouth and she thought she might throw-up for a minute, but she pushed on, letting the fresh sno-cone fall to the ground as she grabbed onto sweaty strangers, clawing her way through the crowd to reach its epicenter.

The first thing she saw as she got to the inner ring of spectators was another sno-cone that was being trampled by their feet as they shuffled and jockeyed to get a better look. She felt something or someone tug on her small purse strap that she had across her body. The baseball popped out, fell to the ground and rolled away as her eyes focused on the most terrifying sight she could have imagined that day. There was Cassius, flat on his stomach with his face being pressed into the grimy concrete floor by a man who looked to be in his 50’s. The man had one knee in the boy’s back and both hands pushing hard on the back of his head. Drew was standing over the scene, yelling while trying to push the man off of his four-family friend.

“Get off of him! He didn’t do anything!” he screamed with tears streaming down his face. “He’s just a kid!”

There were so many thoughts flying through Ali’s head that she had a hard time getting her body to move at all. Her brain was literally shorting out from trying to take in the scene and process what the hell was happening. Why was nobody helping them? Why was this big man attacking Cassius? Where was the goddamned cop?!

“Get your hands up!” a loud voice bellowed, right on cue. The police officer she had seen running over had made his presence known, finally. He spoke into the walkie on his chest and called for back-up. “Don’t move!”

“Please! Please!” Drew’s plaintive voice cried out as he turned to face the cop. “You’ve gotta help my friend!!” he ran to the officer and tugged on his arm, trying to pull him closer.

It took Ali a moment to realize that the cop wasn’t holding an actual gun but a taser gun. He pushed Drew away roughly and pointed it at the pair on the ground.

“Stop struggling or I’ll light you up!” he commanded loudly. “Get your hands up!! I won’t tell you again!” 

Ali’s head spun as she watched the officer step closer to them and resume his stance, both arms out in front of him holding the taser tightly and pointing it at them. What the fuck was happening? Stop struggling? Was he talking to Cassius?!

“No! He didn’t do anything!!” Drew was back on his feet and moving towards Cassius who was still pinned to the ground with a 250lb middle-aged man on top of him. 

Cassius had his hands as up as he possibly could, which meant they were on either side of his head, bent at the elbow, palms down and fingers spread wide. His legs were flailing behind him as he appeared to be trying to squirm his way out from under the man. He probably couldn’t breathe! Ali felt nauseous with fear but when she saw the cop’s finger move to the trigger of the taser gun, she surged forward, pushing through the last two spectators in her path and screaming at the top of her lungs.

“Wait!!!”

She jumped over Cassius’ flailing legs, her arms outstretched, hands open and waving back and forth like some sort of demented jazz hands, and positioned herself between the officer and the boy pinned to the ground.

“Don’t shoot!! He’s with me!!” she glanced over her shoulder at Cassius and saw the man on top of him sneering back up at her. “He’s only 15! Please, don’t shoot!!”

Drew ran to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, tears still streaming down his face.

“Mom, mom...” he sobbed, trying to catch his breath so he could talk. “You’ve gotta help Cash!”

“Get behind me Drew, now!” she barked at him and used one hand to push him back there.

“Ma’am you need to step aside, right now!” the cop yelled back.

“Cash, Cash” Ali looked over her shoulder again. “Can you breathe?!”

There was no answer and the brunette scanned the front row of the crowd, hoping that someone would come to their aid.

“Cassius!! Can you breathe?! Answer me!!”

“Ma’am...” the cop threatened again. “Get out of the way or I will tase you.”

“Somebody help us!” Ali yelled to the crowd as she focused on the officer again. “He can’t breathe! Somebody help him!!”

Drew left his mother and went back to trying to push the big man off of Cassius. It was a futile attempt but it moved a young woman and her friend to come to his aid. There were rumblings in the crowd and more voices from the back started to shout.

“Let him up!”  
“He can’t breathe!”  
“He’s just a kid!”  
“Get off of him!”  
“Don’t shoot!”

“Everybody get back!!” the cop screamed and Ali saw his finger on the trigger. “Now!! Get back!!”

But the young woman and her friend, a college-age looking guy, were already pulling the strong arms of the big guy off of Cassius’ head, trying to allow him to get some air.

“Don’t shoot. Please don’t shoot” Ali implored the cop. She was surprised to feel tears running down her own cheeks. “Please. We won’t go anywhere. We won’t resist. Just, don’t shoot!”

There was the briefest of staredowns between Ali and the cop and in his moment of hesitation the brunette could hear Cassius take a big gasping breath behind her. She had no idea what was going on back there but it was one of the best sounds she had ever heard in her life. She had never ached to hear a breath more than that one, except maybe the babies’ very first breaths of life.

“Everybody step back!!” a different booming voice called out as three more police officers arrived on the scene. Back-up. Finally.

But Ali was just as horrified when all they did was grab the two helpers who had probably saved Cassius’ life, and then made the big man get off of the boy. There were two dozen cellphones out, videoing the scene, and the cops looked unsteadily at each other. One of them dragged Cassius to his feet and handcuffed his hands behind his back. Ali moved to him and hugged him for a second before the original officer pulled her back and handcuffed her too. 

“It’ll be ok Cash!” she yelled to him. The look of terror in his eyes was something she knew she’d never forget as long as she lived. 

“Mom! Mom!” Drew’s anguished voice called out again at the new threat – handcuffs on his mother.

“Go get Josie and James” Ali shouted to him as she was led away with Cassius, the big man, and the two helpers. “Take them and go get Dom, hurry!”

It wasn’t until hours later, after having time to sit and think in one of the two cells in the security office in the bowels of Fenway Park, that Ali had her epiphany. Everything had happened so fast and she honestly couldn’t tell you many details about anybody at all. Maybe she could tell you what color the big guy’s shirt was as Drew tried to push him off of Cassius. Maybe she could tell you what the original cop’s face looked like, but only because she had stared into it in such utter desperation. Maybe she could tell you what color the helper woman’s hair was. Maybe. But maybe not. What she slowly became aware of as she sat there on the hard bench with three random drunk women who were also locked up, was that everybody involved had been white. Everybody, that is, except for Cassius. All four cops were white. The big man on top of Cassius was white. She and Drew were white. Even the two helpers were both white. Most of the crowd, if she tried really hard to go back and think about it, were white too. She wondered idly if the Chinese tourists had been there somewhere, watching too.

Ali had grown up with Sydney as her best friend and she had seen and heard a million different racist behaviors and epithets over the years. It hadn’t been until she was in high school when she started to really notice it though. She and Sydney would go to the mall and shop like any other pair of high school best friends would. But she and Sydney would always be paid extra attention. She and Sydney would always be followed around the store more closely than the others because Sydney was black. Sydney’s mom did her best to prepare her daughter for what to expect out of life in mostly-white New England, but Sandi Leroux didn’t know what it was like to be black. Only Sydney knew what it felt like. Ali’s parents had always been open-minded about race, especially her mom. Deb’s roots in Virginia had exposed her to a lot of black folks growing up. Some of her experiences had been good, and some bad. Much the same as it had been with white people down there. Much the same as it was with people of all colors everywhere. Ali, in particular, tried hard to be an ally and had done so all her life. But she didn’t always know what to do or say. When all else failed, she stood by Sydney’s side, no matter what – ready to suffer whatever insults or slights were sent her best friend’s way.

The country had really begun to change, starting with the Black Lives Matter movement back in 2013. It had been painfully slow progress over the years, but it had definitely been progress. Kyle Krieger had been one of the first white gay men to embrace the movement. He had made a point to be as inclusive in his social media presence, and his films, and his YouTube videos as he could. He never proclaimed to actually be changing lives but he did what he could, bringing a new audience to the movement and opening a lot of white gay eyes in the process. 

The Harrises, on the other hand, had not always been as tolerant as the Kriegers, but it was the troublesome extended family again. Gram and Gramps had always taught Ashlyn and Chris that the color of a person’s skin didn’t make any more difference than who they loved. Tammye and Mike, once they came out of their drunken stupors, felt the same way. Mike had always been and still was a more suspicious man. He had gone down some challenging roads in his life and experienced some things that made him less willing to trust people who weren’t the same as him. But he had been growing and evolving as he got older. He was a work in progress and Ashlyn admired him for not giving up. The bad news was that one of Mike Harris’ uncles had been a card-carrying member of the ku klux klan. It was one of the darkest stains on the family name and nobody talked about it. That uncle had raised his three children to be racist bigots too, but one of them had resisted and changed everything she thought she knew about whites and blacks in her 30s. The enduring hope was that each generation in that backwards branch of the family tree would convert more Harris souls to appreciating and honoring equality among all races and sexualities and genders. It would take time. 

New England continued to be more white than black but progress had absolutely been made. Ali’s harrowing experience that day in Fenway Park made her doubt every inch of growth she thought Boston had made towards equality. She couldn’t believe what had happened to Cassius. She could barely even let herself think about what might have happened if she hadn’t been close by.

“Al!” Ashlyn’s choked voice called out when the brunette was finally released. She hugged Ali tightly in the hallway that connected the security department to the concourse under the ballpark. “Oh my God, are you ok?”

Ali clung to her, finally feeling safe enough to let her pent-up emotions out. She sobbed and rattled off rapid questions in quick succession, mumbling most of them into Ashlyn’s chest as she bawled her eyes out.

“How’s Cash?”  
“Where’s Drew?”  
“What happened?”  
“Did they arrest that guy?’  
“Is everybody else ok?”  
“Where are the kids?”  
“What about the cop? Did he get in trouble?”

“Whoa, hold on, just breathe” Ashlyn replied, holding her girl close and kissing the top of her head several times. “Just breathe for me for a minute.”

They stood there for a few minutes while Ali calmed down, but Ashlyn had to start answering her questions in order for that to happen.

“Cash is gonna be ok. He’s at Mass General now with Syd and Dom” she nodded reassuringly when Ali’s wild eyes flew up to meet hers, searching for more details. “He has a couple of broken ribs and some scrapes on his face, but he’s gonna be ok.”

“Oh thank God” Ali whimpered as a new wave of fear rolled through her system. “I was so afraid...so afraid...” she could barely get the words out. “He couldn’t breathe...”

“He’s ok honey, I promise” Ashlyn pulled back and held her wife’s face in her hands. “He’s gonna be ok. And Syd and Dom are ok. She didn’t kill anybody, not yet anyway” she tried to joke, hoping to help her wife relax a bit.

“That’s not funny” the brunette frowned and pulled her head back. “Don’t even say that. Ash, that was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen.”

“I know, I know...”

“No you don’t know! It was awful! Cash could have died!”

“No, I mean I know because I’ve seen a bunch of videos of it. That’s all. I’m sorry I made fun. I...it’s too soon. I’m sorry.”

Ali’s whole system felt like it was about to overload. She was hot and sweaty and hungry and tired and stressed beyond belief. It was just after 6pm and the ballpark was deserted and closed. The only part of it that were still occupied were the security offices. Ashlyn tucked Ali into her side and walked her down the rest of the hallway to the only door that was unlocked. It led out to the street and it took the keeper a minute to get her bearings. A car horn honked across the street and Whitney opened the back door and stood up with a wave. The two blondes filled Ali in as they drove to the hospital to check on the Dwyers.

“Drew’s fine” Ashlyn began, getting back to the list of questions her wife had asked her back in the hallway. “I mean, he’s upset, obviously, but he’s ok. He’s not hurt. Your dad and Vicki and Sandi came down and picked all the kids up and took them back to Ipswich. They’ll keep them overnight if we want or we can go get them, ours I mean.”

“Drew was so brave Ash” Ali shook her head at the fresh memories.

“He did just what you told him to do” the keeper nodded. “He brought Josie and James up and told us what happened. Dom and Syd tore down there and had Cassius in an ambulance to the hospital before the game was even over. No-one’s sure if security was more afraid of Dom’s lawsuit threats or Syd’s crazy eyes, but whatever it was, it worked.”

“Oh thank God” Ali closed her eyes and took a deep breath, leaning back into the headrest of the town car. She was happy to be in effective air conditioning for the first time in over 9 hours. “Fuck.”

“He did good Al” Whitney nodded from the other side of Ashlyn.

“Wait, how do you guys know what I told him to do?” the brunette frowned as she tried to get her brain to work. “Did you say there was a video?”

“Over 20 of them, actually” Whitney nodded and raised her eyebrows. “A lot of people in the crowd recorded the whole thing and posted it right after the police took you all away.”

“Holy shit” Ali whispered. She felt overwhelmingly exhausted. 

“Holy shit is right” Ashlyn squeezed her wife’s hand she had been holding the whole ride. “We saw everything, from before you even got there.”

“So what the hell even happened? I don’t even know how any of it started.”

“Cash and Drew were goofing around” the keeper began to explain. “They had sno-cones and were tossing some wadded-up napkins back and forth, you know, playing catch.”

“I told them to stop doing that” Ali closed her eyes again, rubbing her temple with her free hand and groaning.

“You saw them?”

“Yeah, I took the baseball from them and gave them money to get sno-cones and told them to get back to their seats. Shit” she sat up and looked at her small purse that was definitely much too thin to still have the baseball inside it. “I lost it. The baseball...”

“It’s ok hon. We’ll get them another one. Don’t worry” Ashlyn gave Whitney a concerned look when she saw how out of sorts Ali was. “Do you feel ok?”

“No Ashlyn, I feel like shit” she opened her eyes and gave the keeper a withering look. “I feel like I just had an out of body experience, I smell like piss and beer, and two of our kids almost died...”

It was quiet for a minute as they got closer to the hospital. Whitney cleared her throat and hoped to help the brunette make sense of what happened by giving her more details. She knew Ali well enough to know that her logical brain was working overtime already. Feed it some facts and she might feel a bit better.

“Somehow they collided with another fan, the big guy who pinned Cash down. He got pissed off and started to give them a hard time. The boys were cocky at first but as soon as the big guy made it clear that he was an asshole, and a big asshole, they were apologetic and contrite” the lawyer explained.

“But something he said made Drew laugh, which made Cash laugh...” Ashlyn added.

“And then the big guy lost it. I don’t know the results of the breathalyzer test but it’s pretty clear from the different videos that he was drunk.”

“Yeah, a mean drunk too” the keeper chimed in again.

“You got there maybe a minute after he started kneeling on Cash” Whitney added. “Not a minute too soon though, Jesus” she shook her head, still in disbelief that this had happened to her own friends.

“Was he arrested?” Ali asked hopefully.

“He was. But I’m not sure if he made bail or not. It’s a holiday so I’m sure he won’t be going anywhere until tomorrow at the earliest. I’ll know more tomorrow. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear.”

“What about the woman, and her friend, the two that helped get him off of Cash?”

“They, like you and Cassius, were released without being charged.”

“Do we know who they are?” the brunette asked. “I want to thank them or something. They were the only people who helped. Out of all those people standing there watching...”

“Some of those people were filming it” Ashlyn leaned over and kissed Ali’s head again. “But the rest of them, yeah, shame the hell on them.”

“And the cop? The first guy, the one with the taser. Did he get suspended or anything?”

“Um, no” Whitney lowered her eyes for a second before meeting the tired amber ones staring back at her. “It’s early and there’ll be an investigation, but it looks like he’ll get praised for showing restraint in a confusing situation.”

“What?!” Ali sat up abruptly, fury in her eyes. “He was this close to tasing Cash for fuck’s sake. I’ve been thinking about the whole thing, for hours, and the only reason he targeted Cash is because he’s black. You saw the video. Did you see Drew go up and pull on the cop’s arm?! If Cash had done that he’d be dead right now. But it was ok for Drew because he’s white!”

“We should all be thankful it was you there and not Syd” Whitney’s serious voice filled the anxious backseat as they pulled up to the hospital. “I can’t even think what would have happened if you had been black too.”

“I’ll bet nobody would have helped at all” Ashlyn dropped her eyes, ashamed of the inaction of the others. 

“Imagine how sympathetic the crowd would have been to Syd out there trying to do the same exact thing you did” Whitney spoke again, her face as grim as the image she had just painted.

All three women had a good idea of what would have happened and it sickened them.

“Hey, how is he?” Ali whispered and nodded at a sleeping Cassius as she entered the quiet hospital room 15 minutes later.

“Oh my God” Sydney blubbered as soon as she saw her best friend. 

She stood up and met Ali in a fierce hug, crying into her shoulder. Dom shushed them and held the door open so they could move back into the hallway while he sat next to his son’s hospital bed. He looked stricken. Ali had never seen Dom look so out of sorts.

“Hi boo boo” Ali spoke softly over Sydney’s shoulder as they hugged just outside of Cassius’ door. She let the distraught mother cry for a couple of minutes, rubbing her back and holding her. “He’s ok, right? I mean, he’s gonna be ok?”

“Yeah, he is” Sydney sniffled as they pulled apart. “He’s gonna be just fine” she nodded, convincing herself as much as relaying the information to her bestie. “Thanks to you. Jesus Christ...Alexandra...”

Sydney tried to find more words to put together to thank her friend for literally stepping into harm’s way for her son. But nothing more came out of her mouth. It gaped open and closed three times, like a fish out of water trying to breathe.

“You’d do the same for any of mine” Ali smiled through a couple of her own tears, incredibly moved by the emotion coming out of her best friend in that moment. “I know it for a fact. Besides, he is my godson, so...”

They stood there grinning at each other with watery eyes, nodding instead of using words to convey their love for one another. 

“Where’s Ash?” Sydney finally asked, taking another deep breath to try and settle herself again. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “What is that smell?” 

“It’s me” Ali rolled her eyes and shook her head as they pulled apart. “The drunk tank at Fenway, my new designer perfume. Do you like it?”

“Oh Als...” they both chuckled softly.

“Ash and Whit went to get us something to eat” the brunette changed the subject. “I’m starving.”

“Good” Sydney squeezed Ali’s hand and looked over her shoulder into her son’s room. 

The brunette could tell she wasn’t ready to be very far away from her boy just yet. Not so soon after such a frightening experience.

“Let’s go in and sit with him” Ali suggested softly. “Can we do that?” She waited for Sydney to nod her approval of the plan before speaking again. “We’ll watch him sleep like we used to do when he was a baby. Remember?” she smiled.

“I do” the coach chuckled. “In your perfect little house.”

“It was your perfect little house then” Ali corrected and gave her a sidehug as they turned to go into the room. “And you and Dom filled it with all the things I never could. You guys made it a real home.”

“How the hell is he 15 already? I still can’t believe it” Sydney sighed heavily. “How did it get so fucking hard and terrifying?”

“I don’t know” Ali shook her head sadly. “What I do know, is that I don’t wanna do this teenager bullshit without you boo. I can’t. I’ll lose my damned mind.”

“I feel the same way Alibaba” she gave the brunette another squeeze in their sidehug. “And you’ve got girls too” she made an eek face and they both chuckled. “We’ll do it together.”

“Promise?” Ali asked, a pleading look on her face.

Sydney’s weary but relieved face nodded back at her.

“I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still sad about that loss last night in the 95th minute. Absolutely soul-crushing. I love Casey Short and I'm very very happy for her - she deserves all the goals and especially the big-time game-winners like that one. She's one of my favorites. She's my favorite defender of the next age group after Ali. Then comes Tierna Davidson for the group after that. But Goddammit the Pride almost held Chicago off!!!!! The realist in me says 'the Pride played up a woman for over 25 minutes and still couldn't even pull out a stinking draw - they don't deserve the point'. But the fan in me says 'Oh my God they worked so hard though, especially the defense! They deserved the draw and the point!"  
> And poor Ashlyn. Her face after the game said it all, for every single one of us who has cheered for this team this season. What the fuck do we have to do to pull out a point?? That was the best game I've seen Ashlyn play since the 2015 playoff game in Seattle when she was with the Spirit. I didn't think she could play better than that one - and I'll have to re-watch it to be sure, but it was pretty fucking close. That save she made from the pitch with everybody swarming around her! It was more like 3-4 mini-saves. She just bossed that whole area and grabbed that ball. Yeah they wear gloves but holy shit! Can you imagine being down there with all those fucking cleats kicking at you?! She's badass. No other way to describe it.  
> And Ali played great too. As usual. It's incredible the difference she makes on the backline isn't it? She and Shelina had a great game at CB. They held off Sam freaking Kerr for the entire game, along with everybody else. The defense should be really fucking proud of itself for that game. We just needed to score. Can't believe we can't buy a goal this season. It's crazy. Without Marta we have absolutely no offense. And I'm usually a Dani Weatherholt fan but man, she didn't even jump to try and win that cross from Kerr! What the hell? And I don't know why Shelina gave Kerr so much time and space to get that cross in - except maybe she was exhausted. Both she and Ali had to sprint back down the field from the corner kick they were trying to score on. I think Edmonds was the lone defender back (how terrifying is that??).  
> Anyway. I'm devastated for the team. How the hell do they go to NC now on Saturday and play HAO's big game after that? I'm dreading it already but there's no way I'll miss watching it. Oh well. I'm hopeful for next season. I really am. God help us all.


	25. Family Time in Florida

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good luck to the Pride tonight. I'm feeling all sorts of things as I get ready to watch the celebration game for HAO. Mostly I'm feeling right side strong side forever.

Two days later the Kriegers flew down to Melbourne Beach, FL for the second half of the April vacation week. They didn’t usually go to Florida for both vacation weeks, but it was Tammye’s 25th sober anniversary so it was a very special occasion. Ali was hesitant to go so soon after the tense episode with the police at Fenway Park. She was worried about Cassius, and worried about Syd and Dom, and worried about Drew too for that matter. She was still rattled herself, if she was honest. It wasn’t every day that she found herself face to face with a taser gun, with the welfare of two of the children she loved most in the world at stake. A couple of the videos of the incident had gone viral, but the focus was more on the two bystanders who had come to Cassius’ aid. The main takeaway, at least in social media spheres, was that the bystanders should have done more to help the two boys fight off the belligerent, drunk fan in the first place. If a couple of people had jumped in to help run interference, then the big guy would never have been able to get Cassius in such a precarious position and the police might not have been required at all. 

And, as Whitney had suspected, the cop was being praised for keeping his cool in a tough situation. The only bad guy was the drunk big guy who pinned the 15-year old kid to the ground and almost suffocated him. The bystanders weren’t officially bad guys, but they had certainly been called out for indifference and negligence. But Ali knew that the cop would have shot Cassius with that taser gun if she hadn’t stepped in the line of fire. She had no doubt in her mind about it. An added wrinkle to the whole stressful thing was the deluge of civil rights attorneys who were clamoring to make a case against the Boston Police Department on Cassius’ behalf. Sydney and Dom had received calls from a dozen heavy hitters from all across the country. But it wasn’t the slam dunk case some people thought it might be. Who was actually at fault? The Boston Police Department? Fenway Park? The owners of the Boston Red Sox? It was complicated. Thankfully, the police hadn’t actually harmed Cassius. But they certainly hadn’t helped him when the teenager’s life had truly been in jeopardy. Why didn’t the cop get the big guy off of Cassius? The boy was the person in trouble and he had been treated like a criminal by the cop.

“I don’t know” Ashlyn shook her head and winced to show her discomfort with the entire situation. 

She was having déjà vu as she sat and talked at the skate park and playground in Satellite Beach, the same one she and her brother Chris had grown up using and hanging out at when they were young. The keeper was catching up with her high school bestie, Liz, and watching Dodge and Lily play with a couple of local kids they’d never met before. Dodge was skateboarding like a champ, using every inch of the dynamic skate park – ramps, pipes, and everything else. Lily liked to skateboard too but wasn’t that interested that Thursday morning. It was another thing that drove both Ashlyn and Ali crazy – neither of their girls enjoyed sports and other outdoor activities like skateboarding or surfing as much as their sons did. Neither mom ever forced the girls into anything but boy was it tempting. What kind of feminist, lesbian, athletic moms had two girls who fell far more into the traditional ‘girl’ roles they themselves had fought so hard against their entire lives? It was like a cruel trick being played on Ali and Ashlyn. 

“One of Whit’s law school buddies works for a civil rights firm in Chicago” the keeper continued, “and she said this one wasn’t winnable.”

“Why not?” Liz asked incredulously.

“No clear-cut bad guy” Ashlyn repeated what she had been told. “No real harm done...”

“He has broken ribs!” Liz fumed, upset at the injustice of the whole thing.

“I know, I know” Ashlyn shook her head and frowned again. “Ali says that Syd told her that Jonathan Kraft talked to Dom yesterday.”

“The owner of the Breakers?”

“Well, he and his brothers own the NE Revolution and the New England Patriots too” the keeper clarified. 

“But not the Red Sox, right?”

“Right. But, I think Jonathan is trying to get Red Sox ownership to settle this quietly, out of court, and just put it all to bed.”

“Can he do that? Does he have any pull with the other owners?”

“Not really, but they do tend to stick together. It’s kind of an elite club” Ashlyn sighed and paused to watch Lily congratulate Dodge on a particularly nice run through the funbox. It was the first time he had completed it without wiping out. “If the ‘incident’” Ashlyn used air quotes, “had happened at Gillette Stadium and it was the family of one of the Red Sox owner’s employees, what would the Red Sox owners want the Patriots owners to do about it?”

“Oh yeah, duh” Liz giggled at herself. “I always forget Dom works with you. For you?” she asked with another giggle. Sometimes it was hard to believe the girl she had popped pimples with in the girls’ room between classes was now part owner of the Boston Breakers. “I guess that makes a difference, doesn’t it?”

“Well, it shouldn’t. But it does” Ashlyn sighed. “But it’s not really the Red Sox fault anyway. I don’t know” her face registered agitation. “The whole thing pisses me off and I still can’t fucking believe it happened in the first place. Jesus Christ.”

“How’s Al doing?” Liz asked after a brief pause, starting to sense the tension surrounding the whole subject. “I can’t believe she just jumped right in there like that. I hope I’d have done the same thing but I don’t know Ash” she looked at her bestie with wide eyes. “That’s scary shit.”

“You’re telling me” Ashlyn closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. “She’s struggling right now. She’s focusing on Syd and Cash and Drew but I know she’s struggling. That was scary as fucking hell” she tried to keep her emotions in control. “I felt like I was gonna throw up when I saw the first video. Jesus...” she squeezed her eyes shut again, trying to push the memory out of her brain. “And Drew...” she got choked up and had to stop for a few seconds.

“Oh God, I didn’t even think about that” Liz rubbed her friend’s shoulder as they sat next to each other on the bench near the perimeter of the park. She tried to hide how worried she had just become. “He was right there in the middle of it too. What a brave kid he was” she smiled softly at Ashlyn and waited a beat. She knew how hard it was for the keeper to deal with her kids and wife being in danger. It had always been a trigger for her. “Did your PTSD get you again?”

“Not yet” Ashlyn blew out a big breath and rubbed her face with both hands. “But I can feel it...rising up, you know?”

“It’s only been three days, you’re allowed to be freaked out” Liz tried to reassure the keeper. “Have you talked to anyone...”

“Yeah, my shrink, on the phone. We all had to get on the plane yesterday morning, but the doc squeezed me in last night once we got to my mom’s.” 

They were both quiet for a couple of minutes. Just taking in the warm Florida morning. It was 78 degrees with clear blue skies and relatively low humidity. It was perfect weather and everybody was hoping it would hold out through the next night for Tammye’s big party. 

“I’m here if you need me Ash. I know you’ll only be here for a couple more days, but...I’m here.”

Ashlyn turned to face her long-time friend, her day-one, ride-or-die bestie. She saw all the love in Liz’s eyes and really did feel her heart beat a little stronger, a little steadier. It was hard to have someone so important to you so far away, but they did their best to stay in touch digitally throughout the year. Liz’s life was messy and not easy and often heartbreaking, but she always managed to be there for Ashlyn whenever she was needed.

“I know you are Lizard” the keeper threw her arm around her best friend’s shoulders and gave her a side hug. “And it means the world to me. Always has, always will.”

//

At the same time, Thursday morning, Ali and Carol were back at the beach house in Melbourne Beach, three towns down the coast from Satellite Beach. Only in Florida or California could the word beach come up so often in a sentence. Tammye and Beth had taken Lizzy and Josie over to the hotel where the big party was going to be held the next night, Friday night. They were doing a final check of the table layout and other logistical details and the girls asked to tag along. Drew was at Chris and Beth’s house watching Johnny and Mike Harris work on Ashlyn’s old Jeep. It reminded both Ali and Ashlyn of how much Drew had enjoyed helping Niki and the keeper build the treehouse in the empty lot a few years earlier. Chris was at the rehab facility leading the latest group of freshly clean addicts on their road back towards long-lived sobriety.

“So...we are or we aren’t doing the vegetarian thing now?” Carol asked and chuckled as she and Ali worked on a shopping list they would then take with them to the grocery store.

“That depends” Ali looked up from the list and deadpanned. “What day of the week is it?”

Lily had always been a fickle eater, and that was putting it mildly. The idea of becoming a vegetarian had definitely appealed to the 9-1/2 year old back in November. But the reality of not eating meat or fish anymore, not that she ate a lot of fish in the first place, had turned out to be far more difficult than the girl had imagined. At first it had been exciting and kind of fun for Lily to be doing her own thing. She gave up her chicken nuggets and hot dogs easily enough at the beginning, but cheated through the Christmas season because there were so many yummy things to enjoy. Neither mom wanted to force her to eat one way or the other, but it was aggravating when it came time to do the grocery shopping if you weren’t sure which way Lily was going to go. She tried again in January and did pretty well. But after about 6 weeks she started to fizzle out on her vegetarianism. Both moms were as supportive as they could possibly be. They admired Lily’s heart and her desire to not eat any animals but they also knew that their girl was not going to like eating vegetarian foods. 

“So we don’t need the soy hotdogs?” Carol tried to clarify once they stopped laughing. 

“We do” Ali gave the older woman a playful eyebrow raise as she added them to the list. “We found one that she likes, well, if we put enough ketchup on it” the brunette explained. “We’ve also modified it a little bit. We’re doing fish now too...”

“Ah, fish sticks” Carol nodded with a knowing smile.

“Exactly.”

“Alright, well, as long as she still loves cheesy eggs I think we’ll be ok.”

“That she does” Ali jotted some other things down on the list as Carol moved around the kitchen taking stock of what they had and what they needed. “We’ll keep working more beans and grains and nuts into her diet for her too. We’ll figure out a good mix of things that taste good to her and give her what she needs too.”

“I have no doubt about it dear” Carol shook the milk container to see how much was in it. “We need milk.”

“Got it.”

“So what’s going on with Josie and that awful girl who keeps tormenting her?” Carol scowled at the very idea of her granddaughter’s bully.

“Oh, not too much now” Ali’s shoulders slumped at the topic of conversation. It angered her and made her sad at the same time. “The longer the school year goes on the better it usually gets. We’re hoping it was just because it’s her first year in middle school. Hopefully it won’t happen again in the Fall.”

“How does Josie feel about it? I mean, how is she handling it?”

“She’s so strong and brave” Ali gave the older woman a soft smile as they locked eyes for a minute across the kitchen. “Of course she’s hurt and frustrated and confused and angry...”

“Well how could she not be?”

“I know” the brunette sighed. “But she puts on a brave face. I think she’d rather die than give Franny the satisfaction of crying or getting upset in front of her.”

“Good for her! That’s our girl.”

“Franny’s guidance counselor is making some progress with her too, so that’s good news. I’ve always felt bad that she’s so unhappy, or troubled by whatever is actually going on with her. Something is definitely wrong at home and I guess they’re starting to get to the bottom of it.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“No, and I’m glad they won’t tell us. They need to respect her privacy” Ali’s face darkened as she paused and got lost in the painful memories of the bullying. “But part of me just wants to shake her until she realizes the hurt she’s causing Josie. God, I get so angry about it sometimes.”

“I’d think there was something wrong with you if you didn’t. Honestly.” Carol moved on to the next kid in her quest for current information on her beloved grandbabies. “Drew seems...quiet. I know you’ve only been here a day but...” she added quickly.

“He’s doing much better now, you should have seen him Tuesday” Ali’s eyes went wide. “I wasn’t much better really, but I can hide it better I guess” she shrugged.

“And Cassius is home resting? That’s the only fix for broken ribs” Carol winced and blinked away what must have been a terrible memory of her own history of broken bones and damaged spirit. Ali caught the fleeting upset in the older woman’s eyes but wasn’t sure what to say. Carol kept talking as soon as the momentary disturbance drifted back to wherever it had come from. “He’s a lucky boy, all three of you are lucky” she shook her head firmly and frowned. “That was an ugly business. It breaks my heart to think what might have happened if you hadn’t been so close by.”

“I know” the brunette’s voice was soft and her face turned pensive as she leaned her chin in her hand on the table, pen still between her thumb and forefinger. “I can’t stop thinking about that...no matter how hard I try.”

“Then you’re not ready to leave it behind you, that’s all honey” Carol smiled warmly as she sat at the kitchen table across from Ali. She reached across and gave the brunette’s hand an affectionate, compassionate pat. “But you will be. Soon enough” she nodded encouragingly. “I’ve never known anybody stronger” she patted Ali’s hand again. “And you and Ash are raising such strong kids – they take after both of you in all the best ways. I was so proud of Drew when I watched that horrible video.”

“I know” Ali repeated her earlier response but added a small smile this time. “He’s terrified that everybody’s gonna tease him because he was crying, but if you watch that video and remember him crying instead of him fighting for his friend’s life, then you’re the one with the problem, not Drew.”

“Amen” Carol’s face jumped into an enthusiastic grin. “That’s just what I’m talking about. I know he’ll probably need to go talk to that psychologist about it, but that’s just what those folks are there for, right?”

Ali hated when the extended family talked about Drew’s child psychologist. It wasn’t because she felt ashamed about it or embarrassed by it. Hell, her whole life had improved exponentially once she opened up to Dr. Mattie Olsen after she and Ashlyn had gotten together. The brunette had never judged people who went to therapy, but she had never understood how beneficial it could be. The stigma around mental health was still there in 2033, but it had been getting smaller all the time. As more famous people began talking about their own struggles, and as more organizations like Ashlyn’s Mental Health Initiative joined in the worldwide campaign to fight that stigma, mental health was beginning to be talked about and treated more like physical health. Everybody was supposed to go in for their annual physical check-up. Nowadays, more and more people who didn’t have official mental health issues or ailments, were taking the time to go check in with a therapist for their mind and soul as well as their body. 

But as her kids got older Ali was very mindful of their privacy. They weren’t little babies anymore and she and Ashlyn didn’t go around talking about every single move the kids made anymore. Gone were the days where Ali would spend 20 minutes on the phone with her mom, telling her about her children’s bodily functions. There was nothing wrong with going to a child psychologist, but it simply wasn’t Ali’s news to share. It was up to Drew to tell his grandparents, if he chose to. Both Ali and Ashlyn knew their parents were only trying to stay connected and keep informed on the well-being of their grandchildren. Nobody was doing anything wrong. But the brunette still cringed inwardly whenever the topic came up in conversation. She was grateful that she and Ashlyn had kept Josie’s handful of visits with Dr. Murphy to themselves for the very same reason. The little redhead saw the child psychologist twice last Fall when the bullying picked up again at the beginning of middle school. And she had seen her a couple of other times as well, but it had been more preventative and cautionary than anything.

“Yes” she nodded and made another note to the shopping list before looking back up into Carol’s kind eyes. “He’s got an appointment next week. I’m sure it’ll do him good to talk about it and decompress with somebody besides his moms.”

“Well she’s worked wonders with him and his stomach. Do you know that we haven’t had to add one thing to that list” Carol nodded down at the list on the table in front of Ali, “that’s for him because his stomach’s bothering him again?” She paused for rhetorical effect and the two women shared a grateful grin. “And I’m sure she’ll help him figure out the gay thing too.”

Ali couldn’t help it, her jaw dropped open when she heard the well-meaning sentiment. The only people that she had talked to about Drew’s sexuality were Ashlyn, Kyle, Deb, and Sydney and she had instructed them to keep it to themselves. She knew Ashlyn had told Whitney, but that was it. If Ali wanted to protect her kids’ privacy regarding their eating habits or doctor appointments, then she sure as hell didn’t want to be chatting about them trying to determine their own sexual orientation. For fuck’s sake. 

“What...? How...?” she stammered.

“Oh dear, was I not supposed to talk about that. I’m sorry honey” Carol looked contrite and sincere as she apologized. “I won’t say another word.”

“Who?..” Ali tried to focus her thoughts on the logical exercise of determining who had broken their confidence.

“Your mom mentioned it last year I think” she tried to remember the specifics and didn’t see the scowl on the brunette’s face right away. “Oh, don’t be mad at her, please. We grandmas, we share things – just the three of us, sometimes.”

Carol meant she, Tammye, and Deb, of course and Ali knew it. Those three grandmas were very close. They often went up to the big old house to babysit together when Ali and Ashlyn would get away for a vacation - just the two of them. Deb was close to Tammye and Carol in Florida too. In fact, she was coming to the party the next night to celebrate Tammye’s sobriety as well as the couple’s 7th wedding anniversary. 

“Really honey, we haven’t told anybody else and we won’t. You have my word on that” Carol nodded, her voice full of conviction. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it” she added quickly. “It’s just not our business, other than wanting our grandson to be happy. That’s all.” 

“I know you mean well” Ali finally found her voice and hoped it didn’t sound too harsh. “But you and Tammye know how hard it is to figure those things out for yourself sometimes. You know better than anybody” she quirked her eyebrow at the older woman. “Drew will figure it out when he’s ready to figure it out, or accept whatever it is he’s afraid of or confused by. Right now he’s dating girls and seems to be happy with that” she shrugged. “Our job is to make sure he knows that it’s all the same. Gay or bi or straight, it doesn’t matter and one’s not better than the other and he can be happy being himself – whatever that is.”

“Well if he ever does bring it up around us, that’s exactly what we’ll say” Carol nodded again, but this time with a careful smile on her face. “We’re here for him if he needs us, but we’ll never say or do anything to make him uncomfortable. I promise you that.”

“I know” Ali sighed and returned the small smile. “I’m sorry if I sound bitchy about it...”

“Stop right there” Carol’s face got serious again. “You sound like a mama looking out for her boy. No apology necessary for that. Not ever.”

It was Ali’s turn to reach across the table and give Carol’s hand a squeeze. They shared one more meaningful smile before getting back to work.

“Ok, so Dodge is eating more than ever” the brunette chuckled. “I think we’d better double the quantity of everything on this list that he likes.”

“Oh Tammye still tells stories about Chris eating them out of house and home” Carol laughed as she got back up to check the supply of breakfast cereal. She caught Ali’s eye and winked. “Sounds like the Harris genes are strong in that one. God help us all!”

//

The party the next night was well-attended and a lot of fun, even though the skies opened up and poured down on Central Florida for more than 3 hours that evening. There were about 30-40 people there, including friends of Tammye’s from her old job, from her AA group, and from her lifetime of living in the beachside community. Carol had some friends of her own she had made while still selling real estate when she had first relocated to Florida from South Carolina several years earlier. Instead of lounging, dancing, and eating on the spacious outdoor patio as they had planned, the group relaxed and enjoyed themselves inside the big ballroom. The huge wall of sliding doors facing the patio and the beach were all open and the sound of the pounding rain added an interesting background to the laughter and music inside the ballroom. 

The only dry part of the party were the two bars, one at either end of the large room. They served several fun drinks, just in the virgin, alcohol-free, variation. The kids, in particular, had a fun time ‘drinking’ like grown-ups. All seven of Tammye and Carol’s grandchildren were there, with Meg arriving just that afternoon. The redhead had spent her Spring Break week up in Cambridge, MA working at the Engen Foundation. It was an informal internship and Meg had been working for Whitney’s foundation that provided free legal services to people who couldn’t afford the legal help any other way for the whole Spring semester. She would do the same thing next year as well as she got closer and closer to her graduation date. Meg was very hopeful that she would be drafted in the NWSL 8 months after her college graduation, but just in case, she was completing her degree in criminal justice and social work. The Engen Foundation was a good training ground for the college junior and she was grateful for it. It was always nice to have a friendly face to help ease your way into something new and unfamiliar. Meg and Whitney had always been close and the lawyer was thrilled to be able to play a part in the redhead’s college education and preparation for her post-soccer future.

Deb Christopher flew up from Miami. Kyle Krieger and his husband and kids flew down from New York City. Mike Harris was there to support and celebrate his ex-wife on her 25th sober anniversary. He was happy for Tammye and Carol and their wedding anniversary too, but he focused primarily on the sober date and nobody blamed him. Ashlyn and Chris’ cousins, David and Carlin – children of Mike’s sister Marie, brought their spouses and children to help represent the Harris side of the family. Some of Chris and Ashlyn’s friends from high school showed up too. What had originally been planned as a small get-together had blossomed as the date got closer and closer. Every time somebody in town heard about the upcoming event, they got excited and wanted to participate. Ashlyn and Chris found themselves checking in with Carol to find out if having more people in attendance would upset their mother or cause her undue discomfort. Each time Carol gave them the same reply.

“Oh you know your mom. She’ll say it’s too much, but she’ll be happy they’re there.”

And Tammye was happy to see everybody. Some of her friends hadn’t gotten together with her for a couple of years, and everyone at the party had a great time reconnecting. About halfway through the evening Chris got on the DJ’s microphone for something spontaneous, surprising everybody in the family who had planned the party.

“Most of you know me, I’m Chris. I’m honored to be here to celebrate my mom Tammye’s 25th sober anniversary” he beamed at his mother who was towards the back of the room dancing with Dodge Krieger. “And some of you may know me from over at the rehab clinic. It’s great to see so many familiar faces” he acknowledged some of the members of his mother’s AA group who he also saw or worked with at the rehab clinic. “Ok, so the reason I’m interrupting the dancing” he looked over his shoulder at the DJ, “sorry man.” Everyone laughed with the big man. “I’m up here now, kinda going off-script because so many of you have come over to me, or to my sister, or to our other mother Carol tonight to tell us how much Tammye means to you or how much she’s helped you with your own sobriety. And the thing that you all had in common was that you said you hoped she knew how important she was to you. So I thought why not do something about that?” he shrugged. “Why not take some time tonight and let you come up here and tell Tammye yourself how much she means to you? What do you think?”

After a rousing round of applause Chris told his mother she couldn’t leave the room until everybody who wanted to take the mic had their chance. He was only half-joking too. Those closest to her knew that it would be just like the quiet, reserved Tammye Lanier to slip out of the room in the middle of her own damned tribute if she’d had it her way. It wasn’t that she was being ornery or difficult. She was shy. She loathed being in the spotlight and had felt that way almost all of her life. She would have been happier talking with Ashlyn about newfound cousin Jeremiah in the back corner of the room. But Tammye sat down at a table near the front of the room so she could see better and so the friends and family addressing her could see her too. Carol sat next to her and held her hand between rounds of applause after each speaker. Ashlyn came and sat with her too, followed by Chris, and Beth, and Ali, and eventually some of the older grandkids who had a good idea of what was going on. Kyle’s own 25th sober anniversary party 11 months earlier had prepared them for what the whole concept was about. Deb and Kyle and Nathan wrangled the younger kids who didn’t have a good grasp of things yet.

One after another people spoke. The most obvious but still powerful ones were the other members of Tammye’s AA group. All four of them were close friends of Tammye and all four of them told moving stories of how Tammye had been there for them over the years. Two of the women had gotten sober with Tammye way back 25 years ago, but both had slipped up and were still a few years away from their own 25th anniversary. Kyle got up and talked about how strong and steady Tammye had always been, how he admired her strength and tried hard to match it in his daily struggles with sobriety. Beth added her voice as well, telling a story about Tammye’s guidance and acceptance and love during the terrible time 5-1/2 years ago when Chris fell so hard off the wagon. There were sad stories and funny stories and everything in between. Perhaps the most moving speaker was a younger woman named Crystal who Tammye had worked with during her time at the temp company. Crystal was a regular employee at the company where Tammye had been placed by the temp agency. It had been one of the long-term placements and Tammye worked there for almost a full year before moving on to the next placement. The two women barely knew each other and had hardly interacted in that time, mostly because Crystal had been a 34-year old who had been starting to slide deeper into alcoholism.

“Hi there, umm, most of you don’t know me and I kind of feel like I’m crashing a family gathering here tonight, but I came with some of the gals from our meeting group and they thought it’d be ok” she gave an apologetic and hopeful look towards Tammye before continuing. “Tammye probably doesn’t remember me and I wouldn’t blame her a bit. She came into my work about 10 years ago and I barely gave her the time of day. I was drinking pretty heavy back then, heavier than ever before and things were looking pretty dark to me at the time. I went to work to try and get through the day until I could get another drink once I punched out at the end of the day.” She cleared her throat and looked nervously around the room. “Anyway, one day I was having a really hard time and I went to the bathroom...to drink” she admitted and blushed a bit. “Tammye came in after me, after I had just sucked down four nips of vodka. She caught me just finishing the last one and she stood there, just inside the door of the ladies room at work. She looked at the stalls because I’m sure she came in there to use the bathroom” she chuckled nervously but the listeners were with her and laughed softly too. “But instead she finds my drunk ass, too desperate to even go into one of the stalls so nobody would walk in on me breaking about 4 rules from the employee handbook. She looked me up and down and if I hadn’t already been so scared she was gonna report me I would have called her out on it. No doubt. But she sized me up good and then went into the stall for a couple of minutes. I don’t know if she was politely letting me have a good way out or not, but I do know that I was too dumb and drunk to do it anyway. When she came back out of the stall she walked up to the sinks to wash her hands and that’s where I was leaning, trying to figure things out and screwing it up bad because of all the vodka in my system by then. Just as she turned to leave she stopped and looked me right in the eye. I’ll never forget it. I see her eyes still sometimes. Sometimes I can’t remember what the rest of her face looked like, just those brown eyes of hers” Crystal smiled at the image in her head. “But even when I can’t remember more than what her eyes looked like, I still hear her voice and the words she gave me that day. She said, ’Crystal, I don’t know you very well and this isn’t any of my business so go ahead and tell me to go to hell if you want to. But you don’t have to live like this. You can stop drinking any time you want to – you just have to want to. That’s the first step, no matter what anybody else tells you. I’ve been where you are but I made it out. You can too. I believe in you.’” Crystal needed a minute to get herself pulled together before continuing. “Before she left me in the bathroom that day, Tammye gave me a little laminated card – she pulled it out of her wallet. It had the name of three women’s shelters in the area and then on the other side was the list of AA meeting sites printed on it. I’m ashamed to tell you that it took me a long time to take your advice Tammye” she nodded at the older woman. “But when I was ready...to start living a real life again, it was your voice and those words that got me started. I’ll never ever be able to thank you enough” she held up the laminated card Tammye had given her 10 years ago. “But thank you for taking a few minutes that day in the bathroom to see me and talk to me and guide me. Thank you for showing me kindness, even when I didn’t deserve it or appreciate it” she started to get choked up and struggled to get the last couple of sentences out. “Thanks to you, I’ve been sober now for over a year” she beamed, unable to hide the joy and relief her new lease on life had brought to her already. “I thought you and your family should know how much you mean to the other people here tonight, and a whole ton more who couldn’t make it tonight” she let her eyes wander across the table of family members sitting with Tammye and smiled at them all before returning her gaze to the woman of the hour who had a few tears sliding down her cheeks as she listened to Crystal speak again. “I owe you my life Tammye. And I’m gonna pay it forward and do my best to be strong and kind to somebody else, just like you were for me.”

As the hour got later Ashlyn got ready to go with her friend Liz to take the kids home and get her settled in as a short-term babysitter. Liz would keep the kids alive, and hopefully asleep, but just alive would be ok for one night, until Ali and Ashlyn and Meg returned from party clean-up duty. The kids were almost old enough where they didn’t need a babysitter at all, but the two moms always preferred to have some kind of grown-up there for the twins, especially Dodge. There was also the common-sense requirement of having somebody at the house who was old enough to drive, should the need arise in some kind of emergency. 

The party was still going, it was only 9:00pm, and the DJ was playing songs from multiple different decades in an attempt to entertain the all-ages crowd. Guests had been making requests all evening and she had done her best to accommodate all of them. Ali had made a couple of song requests herself but they were kind of eclectic and she didn’t have high hopes that they would make the cut. The brunette was having a challenging week and she felt out of sorts and almost like she was an observer – watching herself make her way through the days following Monday’s harrowing events at Fenway Park, without actually engaging in them fully. It felt strange. Ali felt strange. Part of it, she knew, was travelling so soon after the incident. Travelling with 4 kids was always stressful, no matter the excitement waiting at the other end of the journey. Ali was never as bothered by it as Ashlyn was, but she still felt the tension and the anxiety involved in making sure the kids were all safe and sound as they moved through congested airports and cramped airplanes and hectic, bustling loading and unloading areas at both ends of the trip. They had been in Florida for 2-1/2 days and would be flying back home the next day, ratcheting up the brunette’s stress level as her brain began to focus on packing and other practical requirements of making the trip home a successful one. It didn’t help that there wasn’t any booze at the party either. Ali felt awful even thinking it, but she would have killed for a couple of glasses of wine that night to take the edge off and relax for the first time all week.

“Ok, I’ll be back” Ashlyn found her wife standing and talking with Meg and Tammye and Carol on the periphery of the group of dancers in the middle of the room. It was a slow, romantic song and couples of all shapes and sizes moved together on the dance floor. The keeper kissed her lightly on the cheek and started to move towards the door when she felt the brunette tug on her hand. “What’s up? Liz is waiting for me” she nodded towards the door where Auntie Liz was giggling with the Krieger children. Ashlyn cocked her head and gave her wife a quizzical look and a dimpled smile. “I’ve gotta go Al.”

But Ali wouldn’t let her wife’s hand go, stretching their arms out to almost full length as the keeper tried to pull away. Meg, Tammye, and Carol watched the sweet display with a chuckle, used to seeing such signs of the couple’s mutual adoration. Just as the brunette was about to relent, the DJ played another slow, romantic song and made Ali’s face light up in a dazzling grin.

“You can’t go now” she added her other hand and began to drag Ashlyn back towards her and the dance floor behind. “It’s my song! She played my song!”

Ashlyn rolled her eyes as the smile on her face grew even bigger – how could a person not melt at the sight of an adorable, excited Ali Krieger? Especially when she looked so beautiful in one of her many floral print dresses that somehow made her look dressed up and completely comfortable at the same time? It was only April so the brunette’s skin was about as pale as it ever got after 6 months without the sun, but Ali loved to wear sleeveless dresses whenever possible and Florida in April made that possible. The dress was dark blue with large pink flowers spaced out around the entire garment, and a v-neck that was deep enough to just tease her barely-there cleavage. It was amazing what a push-up bra could make happen. Ali’s hair was back in a low bun but wisps had broken loose and were hanging delicately on either side of her smiling face. She wore the charm bracelet Ashlyn had given her after Drew had been born, much heavier now and full of additional tokens for and from the rest of her children. She looked absolutely perfect to the keeper.

“But the kids...” Ashlyn looked over her shoulder towards the door, keys to the rented minivan still in her free hand. She didn’t want to leave the party, or her gorgeous wife, but parents had responsibilities and this one was hers.

“Meg will go, won’t you Megski?” Ali looked hopefully at the redhead. 

She felt guilty asking because Meg had just arrived that afternoon. But she would come back to the party after getting Liz settled. It wasn’t such a big deal.

“Yeah, sure” Meg nodded with a smile. She handed her virgin strawberry daquiri to Carol and took the keys out of Ashlyn’s hand with a wink. “Stay and dance with your wife. It’s her song.”

Ali took advantage of the momentary delay to take in her gorgeous keeper. Ashlyn wore dark blue dress pants, nicely tailored to fit her in all the right places, with a pink collared dress shirt to match her wife’s outfit. She wore it open at the collar with the sleeves folded up to just below her elbows, always happy to show off her tattoos. It was tucked into her pants at her still-slim waist with a black leather belt and surprisingly subtle, silver belt buckle. There were three thin, silver necklaces, of various lengths, around her neck, with her favorite silver shark pendant hanging from the middle one. Her shaggy blonde hair was down and expertly styled to look relaxed and sexy as hell. The brunette had laughed when she saw Ashlyn packing the outfit with the matching shirt back in Gloucester but she loved when her keeper did things like that. It was one of the ways the blonde showed her love and devotion to her wife. Ashlyn took her dressy clothes seriously and if she was willing to cater her look to yours, well, that said a lot and Ali knew it. 

“Just get them in the door and into their pjs...then come right back!” Ashlyn gave instructions to the redhead over her shoulder as Ali finally got her onto the dance floor.

“They’ll be fine” Ali said and then leaned in and kissed her wife’s cheek, getting her attention and wrapping her arms around Ashlyn’s neck. Her voice was low and quiet and she looked happier than the blonde had seen her all week. “Just dance with me for this one song...” the brunette pleaded softly as she pressed their bodies together and started moving to the music.

Ashlyn blinked softly at her wife and held her close as they swayed back and forth, moving slowly and easily around the dance floor. As soon as the keeper had turned back to face her beautiful brunette and looked into those whiskey-colored eyes, she was all in. The last fleeting worry about the kids behaving for Liz floated away as the opening strums of acoustic guitar filled her ears and the scent and feel of Ali infused her senses. It was only a few measures of time before the brunette’s lips found her own and Joni Mitchell’s lilting soprano took over the room.

‘Just before our love got lost you said  
“I am as constant as a northern star”  
And I said, “Constantly in the darkness  
Where’s that at?  
If you want me I’ll be in the bar”  
On the back of a cartoon coaster  
In the blue tv screen light  
I drew a map of Canada  
Oh Canada  
With your face sketched on it twice

Oh you are in my blood like holy wine  
You taste so bitter and so sweet  
Oh, I could drink a case of you, darling  
And I would still be on my feet  
Oh, I would still be on my feet

Oh, I am a lonely painter  
I live in a box of paints  
I’m frightened by the devil  
And I’m drawn to those ones that ain’t afraid  
I remember that time you told me, you said  
“Love is touching souls”  
Surely you touched mine  
‘Cause part of you pours out of me  
In these lines from time to time

Oh you are in my blood like holy wine  
You taste so bitter and so sweet  
Oh, I could drink a case of you, darling  
Still I’d be on my feet  
I would still be on my feet

I met a woman  
She had a mouth like yours  
She knew your life  
She knew your devils and your deeds  
And she said  
“Go to him, stay with him if you can  
But be prepared to bleed”

Oh but you are in my blood, you are my holy wine  
You’re so bitter, bitter and so sweet  
Oh, I could drink a case of you, darling  
Still I’d be on my feet  
I would still be on my feet’

‘A Case of You’ was one of their songs, one of their couple-y songs. Ali’s love of Joni Mitchell ran deep and she had always loved her music and her lyrics and her incredible way of expressing deep, sometimes dark, feelings through her beautiful music. Ashlyn hadn’t spent much time listening to singer songwriters in her youth but had at least had the good sense to recognize poetry when she heard it. She had been an easy convert to Joni Mitchell fan and had been instantly drawn to this song in particular. Ali knew that it was largely because of the painter motif in the second verse and that was ok with her because she always thought of Ashlyn when she heard that verse too. Most people loved the song because of the chorus, the catchy part of the song with the title in it. They thought it was a sweet love song, perhaps written in the early honeymoon stages when you simply can’t get enough of your new love no matter how hard you try. 

Ali had first fallen for the song in that way too. But the longer she was married, the more the words in the rest of the lyrics meant to her. It occurred to her that Joni must have written it looking back at that first blush of love, but having a long-term perspective on it. The acknowledgement and acceptance of imperfection and flaws. The admission of fear and loneliness, even within the safety of a committed relationship with someone you trust and love. Ali had learned the hard way that marriage could sometimes be bittersweet, that maybe that honeymoon stage infatuation wears away eventually. But she had also learned that partnership and allyship and teamwork were romantic in their own important way. She used to scoff at the stories she heard about married women saying the only thing they really wanted for mother’s day was to be left alone and not have any mess to clean up the next day. But, after 17 years with Ashlyn, almost 16 of them as wives, and almost 14 of them as parents, Ali understood all of it and it made her love the song even more. Marriage was hard but wonderful. The brunette knew that her soul and Ashlyn’s soul had touched and blended together and would always be part of the same entity, until the day she died. She didn’t doubt that for a second. But she also knew the struggle of trying to maintain your own individual self and not getting lost in the partnership, of not completely allowing your uniqueness to be subsumed by your couplehood. 

Ali heard the line ‘I could drink a case of you, and I would still be on my feet’ differently now. She used to think it was about getting drunk on new love – just not fall-down drunk even after a whole case of it. She had always felt giddy and buzzed from Ashlyn’s love and that lyric made total sense to her. Now, the older and more seasoned brunette heard the same lyric differently. It spoke to her about drowning in the sea of love she had been lucky enough to find with her keeper, but still managing to keep her feet underneath her. Ashlyn’s all-powerful love was like an enormous wave crashing into Ali as she stood knee-deep in the surf. The saltwater of her Florida girl’s love swirled all around her and comforted her and embraced her and worshipped her before the pull of the tide sucked it back to the deep again – but Ali was strong enough to remain standing against the powerful ebb and flow, even as the sand beneath her feet got sucked away and made it difficult to keep her footing. The brunette could stay upright, stumbling a bit but still true to herself, still her own person despite oftentimes wanting the intoxicating wave to carry her away with it. She could drown in that wave of Ashlyn’s intense, unending love without much complaint, if she were really honest with herself. 

The couple had talked about it before – the challenge of keeping your own identity within such an overwhelming desire to be with another person all the time and for everything. They had spoken with their newer therapist about it as well. It was something they both were aware of, something they both admitted worrying about as the years went by and they grew closer and closer together. The analogy Dr. Mattie Olsen, their original therapist, had given them about learning to cook some different dishes and their sex life was more apropos than ever. It translated to their everyday life and interactions as well – nobody wanted to become boring to their life partner. Not in any way. 

Maybe it was the traumatic start to that week back in Boston that made Ali so introspective that night. Maybe it was the pouring rain. Maybe it was watching so many people talk about the impact Tammye had had on their lives without even realizing it herself. Maybe it was Ashlyn’s unfailing thoughtfulness and the matching outfit. The brunette wasn’t sure and she didn’t really care too much at that moment. All Ali knew was that she needed to dance with her wife. She needed to hear Joni tell them both that it could be bittersweet and still be fucking amazing – wonderful enough to write a timeless love song about. She needed to feel Ashlyn’s arms around her, holding her and never letting her go – not even when the footing got unsteady. 

As so often happened, the two were on the same wavelength. Ashlyn felt it too...whatever it was that had moved the brunette so powerfully. She held Ali close and let the emotion take them both.

“I don’t want one song baby” the keeper whispered into her wife’s ear as the song ended and another slow, romantic one filled the room. “I want all the songs with you, forever...” she squeezed Ali when she felt her try to pull back after Joni’s voice was gone, after the one song obligation had been met. Ashlyn started them moving to the new song, slightly more up-tempo but not much, and pressed a kiss into her wife’s cheek, right next to her ear. “Dance with me...”


	26. 10-Year Old Twins

The month of May hit the Kriegers full force, as it usually did. The birthday gauntlet begun anew. Three Krieger kid birthdays, Sydney’s birthday at the beginning of the month, Niki’s birthday at the end, plus Mother’s Day thrown into the mix made for a very busy 4-week stretch. This year, in addition to the birthdays, next-door neighbor Emma Donaldson was graduating from college! She and Meg were still close but it was hard to get together as often as they would have liked. Emma went to the University of Maine which was located in Orono, ME – a 4-hour drive from Boston. She had followed in her parents’ scientific background and would be graduating magna cum laude with her bachelor’s degree and a double major. She couldn’t decide between majoring in ‘Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology’ or ‘Ecology and Environmental Sciences’ so she did both. Emma had grown into a confident young woman and Julie Donaldson gave Ashlyn and her soccer camp a lot of the credit.

“You don’t realize what an impact you have on young girls Ash” she tried to explain. “They see both you and Ali, but especially you because you’re on tv and famous, as strong women who are doing their own things. It’s not just because you’re lesbians, but she saw you and Ali living your lives as independent, strong women who didn’t need a man’s approval or permission to be awesome. It sounds silly, but it’s the truth. And she really started to grow her self-confidence that first year at The Academy. I saw it with my own eyes.”

Ashlyn deflected the praise but knew her wise neighbor was telling the truth. Not necessarily about Ashlyn, but for sure about the slow but steady change happening in so many places throughout the country. Young girls were growing up seeing women in positions of power that had traditionally been held exclusively by men. The first woman President of the United States – Elizabeth Warren back in 2020, had been just the tip of the spear and the country as a whole was better for it. 

The commencement ceremony up in Orono was Saturday May 14th at 1pm and the Kriegers weren’t going to miss it. The twins’ milestone 10th birthday was the day before, May 13th but their big party had to be scheduled on Sunday the 15th because of the trip to Maine. Dodge and Lily were just getting old enough to complain more about small inconveniences like changing their birthday party from the preferred Saturday date to Sunday. Ashlyn, resolute as ever when it came to shutting her whiny children down as soon as they started to act ungrateful, had simply told the twins to take it or leave it. If they didn’t want their party on Sunday then they’d just have to be satisfied with the quiet birthday dinner and small celebration that the family always had on anybody’s actual birthdate. 

Sharing a birthday party had never been an issue for Dodge or Lily. When they were little they didn’t have a choice. But even as they got older they never fought the joint party scenario. The moms always made sure there was something at the party that each twin would love and enjoy, and things had gone smoothly for 9 birthdays so far. This year, for the first time, both kids expressed interest in doing their own thing with their own friends. They were in separate classrooms at school for the first time and it had been by design. They wouldn’t be in the same class once they got to middle school for 6th grade and both Ashlyn and Ali felt it was important to start getting them used to that idea early. Middle school was often a big adjustment for kids and the two moms didn’t want the added struggle of trying to figure out how to be at school without your twin in the same room all day long. 

The plan worked well and both twins adapted pretty quickly to only seeing the other at lunch or recess during the day. It worked so well, that for the first time they asked for separate birthday parties. Luckily, neither of them had any firm notions about what exactly that party would look like. Dodge had always been agreeable, always. He was easily excitable and had fun anywhere he went, regardless of his expectations. If he was disappointed at the reality of an event he had built up in his own mind beforehand, it only lasted for a few minutes before he launched himself into whatever the fun activity in front of him actually was. He was the ultimate glass half full kid. 

Lily was eternally indecisive. She simply could not make up her mind on anything. At first, her moms worried she was afraid of making the wrong choice, or of making a bad decision. They were concerned that there was some sort of perfectionist streak in her that prevented her from making any decision for fear of making a bad one. Both Ali and Ashlyn had known people like that in their lives and it was a burdensome existence fraught with paralyzing dread of doing the wrong or unwise thing. Those poor people ended up living half a life, constantly waiting too long to make a choice until it had passed them by altogether and they were left with neither option. They didn’t want that for Lily. Ali leaned towards perfectionism a bit, but couldn’t officially be called a perfectionist. Her near-death experience in college had helped her keep things in perspective and fight off the urge to be perfect all the time. Life was just too short for that. The brunette thought she recognized some similar behavior from Drew but both moms had worked hard to make sure their oldest boy knew that making a choice didn’t have to be the end of the world, regardless of what choice he had made. 

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on the day, Lily didn’t seem to be afflicted by that disease. She really just couldn’t choose one thing over another. She found something appealing about so many different things that she ultimately ended up letting her siblings, often her twin brother, decide and then just went along with the flow. Ali and Ashlyn were constantly amazed at how much their youngest child had changed in the span of 10 short years. She had gone from being the fussiest, and sometimes most deceitful kid to being one of the most laid-back of them all. She still had her moments and had more than a little bit of diva in her. She wasn’t all sunshine and moonbeams – far from it. She could be the most stubborn and willful of all the kids, and that was really saying something with Josie included. But Lily was still the most liked and accepted among the four youngest Krieger siblings. All 3 other Kriegers got along well with her, as did all four of her cousins on both sides of the family. People kind of had an idea about who Drew, Josie, and Dodge might be when they grew up. But nobody had any clue what Lily was going to become. She was an enigma.

Between easy to please Dodge and indecisive Lily, Ali had been able to talk them into one last joint party. She had won them over by suggesting that they each decorate part of the house the way they wanted for their party and went so far as to agree to decorating one number on the #10 birthday cake accordingly as well. The twins had never had a two-number cake before! They were hooked by the brunette’s solution and eagerly participated in the baking of the cake and the decorating of their own number. Dodge got the first number on the cake, the number 1, because he had been born first, and they both thought that made perfect sense. Lily also liked the 0 because it was bigger, physically.

“You should be negotiating world peace at the UN or something” Ashlyn chuckled after the twins had scampered away to tell their siblings about the big birthday cake and party decorating news. The keeper got up from the small 2-person kitchen table where the discussion had taken place and leaned down to kiss her beautiful brunette. “I swear, woman, you’re the best mom.”

“We’ll be in Maine all day and driving back Saturday night” Ali smiled after the kiss and shrugged. “We just don’t have time for two parties this year.”

Having twins for the big 10th birthday created a challenge for Kyle Krieger as well. He agonized over whether to do one video for them both, or two different ones. Ultimately, he decided it was only fair for them to have their own videos, just like Drew and Josie. It meant twice as much time for him in the editing room putting it all together and his enormous efforts didn’t go unnoticed. Ali thanked him for almost a month following the party, calling him up randomly every other day to tell him how grateful she was. It was a real testament to Kyle’s dedication as an uncle that he had enough footage to make two separate videos without copying a lot of it from one to the other. But his frequent trips up to the big old house for birthdays had yielded him more footage than he even realized. 

The party was bigger than either Drew’s or Josie’s had been but it was because the twins had different groups of friends to invite this time from their two separate classrooms. All of the relatives were there, except for Chris and Beth and the Harris kids – school was still in session for them and with the party being on Sunday it didn’t work out schedule-wise. They hadn’t been at Drew’s 10th birthday party either for the very same reasons. Lily had decorated the family room in a fancy day spa theme. Ashlyn and Ali set it up so the nook became the mani-pedi area, spreading out magazines for the ‘guests’ to browse through while they had their work done. They moved the nook table out of the room and set up the chairs to face the banquette seats with plastic dishwashing tubs, pink, on the floor between them. Ashlyn used the painted sheet idea to help with the décor there as well. When they were done with all the extra touches the back of the family room looked a whole lot like a day spa and Lily was ecstatic. She wanted to be more grown up, like her big sister Josie and her even bigger sister Meg, more than anything else in the world. It broke her moms’ hearts but they knew it was coming. The twins couldn’t grow up fast enough and it made both Ali and Ashlyn sad. But they knew it was inevitable. The younger siblings always matured more quickly and got interested in the things their older siblings were doing and saying and singing and texting and on and on.

Dodge wanted to decorate the front living room in the latest ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ animated movie theme, until Drew teased him about it, calling him a baby and drawing the swift ire of both moms. No matter how much Ashlyn tried to convince Dodge that there was nothing babyish about dragons, he refused to go back to his first and favorite idea. Instead, he chose the more grown-up theme of NFL football star. Ali and Ashlyn helped him make the room look like scenes from the most recent Madden video game. They had the video game playing on the big tv and they hung a sheet on each of the side walls that Ashlyn had drawn and painted to look like a locker room. They used paper Gatorade cups and set up some of the big drink coolers you saw on NFL sidelines when you watched the games on tv. Ashlyn borrowed some from the Breakers and covered the Breakers blue logo with the New England Patriots instead. Ali added a dozen other small touches to the room, completing the effect until all three of them were satisfied. It turned out really well and the boy was happy with it, which was all the moms wanted. The twins were at that tween age where the little kid in them was doing constant battle with the young adult in them. Dodge’s first choice had been a wonderfully sweet sign of his soft heart. He had fallen in love with Toothless the dragon years ago when he watched the first few movies in the franchise and it was a go-to favorite of his no matter the occasion. Ali and Ashlyn clung to those sweet, soft moments from their boisterous boy, knowing they would come to an end before they were ready for it.

The big gift the kids had been given on Friday, their actual birthday, were iPhones. As the moms had done with both older kids, they disabled most of the features of the smart phones other than the phone function, the texting feature, and a couple of fun apps that all the kids were using. There were some games on the phones but none of the kids was allowed to spend any money on anything without getting one of their mothers’ permission. The surprise the kids got wasn’t revealed to them until the morning of the party when it became impossible to hide it from them any longer.

“You got us a zipline?!” Dodge’s eyes bugged out of his head and his jaw dropped to the floor of the kitchen that morning when he saw the four employees of the temporary zipline company walking through the backyard on their way to the empty lot. “That’s so cool!!”

Ali had found the company and spent a lot of time making sure they were legit and that the zipline was safe. The company was very reputable up in New Hampshire but was just starting to make its way down to Massachusetts. No-one in their kids’ friends group had used them yet but the Kriegers agreed to be the guinea pigs. The fact that the company made the parents of every kid sign a waiver releasing them and the homeowners and hosts from liability made Ali nervous at first. But when Whitney explained that it was actually a sign of a good company she felt much better about the whole thing.

“We did” Ali beamed back at her son who promptly sprinted into the front of her body for a crushing hug. “But only for today” she clarified carefully, knowing the kids would all jump to the conclusion that the zipline was a permanent addition to the big old house. “We can’t keep it.”

“Aw, mom” he whined, unable to hide his disappointment.

“Zipline for a day is better than no zipline at all, right?” the brunette gave him a warm smile, happy to see his face light up again at her words.

“Right!” he nodded and hugged her again. “Thanks Mom. I love you.”

Those unprovoked, sincere proclamations of love were still the absolute best ones – any parent in the world would agree. Ali felt her heart swell even as the boy pulled away, excited to go watch the set-up.

“We’re watching your videos first kiddo, so just cool your jets” she chuckled and pulled him back in for another quick hug. “They won’t be set up for a few hours anyway. Don’t worry.”

Meanwhile Ashlyn and Lily were having their own conversation upstairs in the master bedroom.

“What’s the surprise Mama? Tell meeeeeeeeee...” the girl begged through a giggle as she followed Ashlyn to the window overlooking the driveway by Ali’s side of the bed, up near her closet.

“Take a look out the window and tell me what you think it is” the keeper smiled and held the curtains out of the way so the girl could get a good look at the truck backing up to the garage. 

“It’s a truck. A big truck.”

“Right, but what does it say on the side of the truck?” Ashlyn chuckled, looking down at the big pink vehicle with fancy white lettering.

“Sasha’s...travelling...salon...” Lily read the words carefully without really taking them in.

“Surprise!” Ashlyn enthused, worried by her daughter’s lack of excitement. “Don’t you like it?”

“What is it though?” Lily scrunched her face up and looked up at the keeper in confusion. “It’s a pink truck, which is kinda cool I guess, but...”

“Oh sweet pea” Ashlyn laughed and redirected Lily’s attention to the people in pink coveralls lowering the tailgate of the truck down to the ground. “Just watch for a minute and see if it makes more sense.”

They watched together, Ashlyn standing behind her daughter with her hands on both Lily’s shoulders and a grin on her face. Slowly, as a pink barber’s chair got wheeled into the open space of the garage, and then another, and then a third, the little blonde started to fit it all together.

“The salon travels in the truck! And it’s here for my party!!” she yelled loud enough for the entire house to hear her as well as the workers in the empty lot and the driveway. “That’s amazing!!! Thank you Mama, thank you!!” she turned around and hugged the keeper hard. “Let’s go!”

“Hold on honey, wait” Ashlyn held the girl in place and their eyes met. “First you have to get dressed. Then we need to eat breakfast. Then we need to do your hair, at least brush it out so they can work with it” she cut off the attempted negotiation before it even got started. “And then we’re doing your videos when Uncle Kyle gets here in an hour...”

Lily blinked up at her, familiar hazel eyes sparkling with excitement, and it seemed as though her body wanted to split in half and do two things at once. She shimmied and shivered and jumped straight up in the air making them both laugh out loud. It seemed impossible that their stuffed-animal loving, borderline hoarder of interesting collectable oddities from nature could be 10 years old already but here they were. Ashlyn watched a flurry of emotions flash across the girl’s face before she sucked in a big breath and began speaking, rapid-fire.

“Ok, I’m not sure what to wear. I want to be comfy but, you know, we are going to a salon and everything. I don’t want to be the only one not dressed right. Are you sure we’re getting our own videos? Unky Kyle said he didn’t know for sure...” she took another breath but kept talking as she pulled Ashlyn behind her by the hand through the hall and into her own bedroom. “Are you making breakfast or is Mom? I want your chocolate chip pancakes...”

Ashlyn could do nothing but listen and make the occasional verbal acknowledgement that she was paying attention. She was bursting with happiness and it felt like it was coming right through Lily’s arm into her own body like a transfusion. She didn’t want it to stop. Not ever. Lily sat her Mama on her bed and then moved quickly to her closet and dresser to start deciding what to wear. The keeper saw so much of her wife in the pretty little girl that it took her breath away for a few seconds. She may have physically given birth to Lily, but so many of the girl’s mannerisms and quirks and turns of phrase were like Ali that it made her wonder about nature versus nurture all over again.

“Mama, are you listening?” Lily, who physically looked so much like Ashlyn, stood in another perfect Ali-inspired pose, with her hands on her hips, that the keeper had to laugh out loud.

“Yes, every word my birthday princess. Every single word.”

The party didn’t start until 1pm but family was coming over earlier to watch the videos and eat lunch first. Most of them would leave before the party was over at 6pm and that was ok. There would be others who would stay, close family and 4-family friends, to help clean up and enjoy the evening together too. Deb was the first to arrive, at 9am. She had been spending most of her time at the big old house since coming North for the summer a couple of weeks earlier. This was going to be her fist summer without Mike and everybody was a little anxious about it, including the widow herself. Kyle and his family, who were staying with Deb that weekend, were with her and all of the cousins were happy to see each other, even if it was just for a day. The rest of the family arrived by 10am, including Mike Harris who was staying at the big old house that weekend. The last to arrive before the video tradition started were Meg and Charlie. The newly official and exclusive boyfriend was braving his first Krieger family gathering and was a very popular person for the duration of the day. Everybody wanted to talk to him and make sure he was good enough for sweet Meg.

“Ok, we’re going to buck tradition this morning” Kyle announced with a twinkle in his eye as he addressed everybody gathered in the front living room to watch the first of the two videos. He stood at the front of the room as always and he pointed towards his goddaughter. “Lilian Isabella Krieger, please come stand with me.” He waited for a minute while the birthday girl skipped up to him with a twirl when she arrived. “Thank you, sweetheart” he leaned down and kissed the top of her head as he positioned her so she was standing in front of him as her older siblings had done before her. “I don’t know what it’s like being a twin but I’m sure there are good things and maybe not so good things about it sometimes” he shrugged. “Well, we’re all used to your twin brother going first because he was born a few minutes before you. Every time we play a game or have to take turns for anything, Dodge goes first because he was born first...”

“It’s not my fault” Dodge commented from his spot crammed into the short end of the couch with Edgar, Cristina, and Grandpa Ken. “Geez.”

“You’re right” Kyle laughed. “It’s nobody’s fault and there’s nothing wrong with it” he clarified. “But today, right now for the videos, Lily’s going first.”

Ali and Ashlyn hadn’t really thought much about how Lily or Dodge felt about the way they decided the order of things in their family. It was just a quick and easy way to keep some control in chaotic child negotiations and arguments. It was simple and unquestionable. It was the truth that Dodge was older by exactly 15 minutes and that’s how they had handled it over the years. Ali wondered if they had been doing it wrong all this time. Should they have switched it up and let Lily go first more often?

“He’s full of shit” Sydney’s voice was in Ali’s ear reassuring her as if she had just read her mind. The coach was standing right behind her bestie as they got ready to watch the videos. She knew the brunette so well and was sure she had already started doubting herself. She also knew Kyle didn’t mean any harm by opening the can of worms like he just did. But it didn’t make the can any less wormy. “Don’t go there. She’s the youngest and always will be.” 

“You, little miss” Kyle looked down adoringly at Lily, “were the littlest of all the babies...”

“5 pounds, 6 ounces” Ashlyn added, proudly.

“Spoken like a true mama” Kyle winked at the keeper before returning his attention to his goddaughter. “You were also the baldest” he raised his eyebrows up high and laughed when shock appeared on Lily’s face.

“I was bald?!”

“You were” Kyle nodded. “If it makes you feel any better, so was your brother” everybody laughed. “But you were absolutely beautiful, you looked like an angel.” He paused to give everyone a moment to remember how perfectly formed Lily’s tiny face had been the day she was born. It had been uncanny how perfect she was. “Which was a good thing because sometimes, hoooo honey, you didn’t act like one.”

The family all laughed again at a million different memories of Lily crying her face off for whatever unknown reason. Lily looked slightly embarrassed but only for a couple of seconds. She giggled and shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her pretty pink skirt as she slowly twisted her hips back and forth. 

“But you grew out of it, eventually” he squeezed her shoulders. “And you’re growing up to be such an amazing girl. I love your big heart and your kindness, especially to animals. And I love to hear you laugh because that’s when I know you’re the happiest. Side note – there’s a lot of that in your video” he teased. “I don’t know what the future holds for you my Lily girl, but I know you’ll be wonderful at whatever you decide to do. And someday, when you’re older and wishing you were little again, you can watch this video and it’ll help you remember what a cute baby you were, and what a bald baby you were, and what an awesome little girl you were.” He took a beat to get his voice under control, cleared his throat and then wrapped his introduction up. “I love you Lily, so very much. Happy 10th birthday sweetheart.”

Kyle’s video was incredibly moving, just as Drew and Josie’s had been, and he had most of the grown-ups in tears before long at all. It was interesting and sweet to see how Ali took care of Ashlyn this time around. The other two videos had lots of images of Ali breastfeeding Drew or feeding Josie her bottle while Ashlyn hovered around in the background making sure her wife had everything she needed. This time the brunette was the one bringing the hungry baby Lily to Ashlyn to breastfeed. And as much as Kyle wanted to give each twin their own video, it was impossible to edit the footage without a whole lot of Dodge in it. They were twins. Their whole lives had been shared. They were each other’s first best friend and playmate, starting from the very day they had been born.

“Jesus man, why don’t you just rip my heart right out of my chest” Ashlyn complained through leftover tears as she hugged Kyle tightly at the end of the video.

“Yeah? Was it ok?”

“It was beautiful Ky” Ali answered the question as she added on to the hug from the side. “Thank you, so much.”

After a break for an early lunch and a check in on the salon arrangement in the garage and the zipline set-up in the empty lot, they all gathered in the front living room for Dodge’s big cinematic moment. The gregarious hambone didn’t need to be asked to join Kyle at the front of the room. He bounded up there like a peacock, strutting his stuff. He was every inch the star quarterback in his locker room. He would have been obnoxiously cocky if he hadn’t also had a self-deprecating goofy side that was never too far from view. He liked to make people laugh, and to laugh at himself too. That was his saving grace.

“My man!” Kyle’s big voice called out as he high-fived the exuberant boy. “Having a good birthday party day so far?”

“Yep!” Dodge grinned, his blue eyes flashing brightly.

“Well you, my dude, you are something else, I’ll tell ya” Kyle chuckled as he positioned the boy in front of him as he had done with Lily earlier. “You got as much charm and charisma in you as the whole rest of us put together” he teased, but told no lies.

“Speak for yourself” Ashlyn heckled from her place on the other side of the couch, making everyone laugh. 

“Annnd I think we know where you got it from” the auteur quipped to more laughter. “No, but seriously Dodger, you’re a terrific kid and a great nephew and I hope you never ever change who you are because you’re awesome.” 

Kyle had to stop for a minute because he was surprised when Dodge turned around and gave him a spontaneous and fierce hug. It was a touching moment and it was the perfect example of who the boy really was. A strutting peacock with a soft heart who wasn’t afraid to show it. 

“Love you Unky Ky” he mumbled into Kyle’s stomach.

“I love you too big guy” Kyle’s voice caught in his throat as he tried to handle his emotions. As quickly as the boy had hugged him, he turned around again and resumed their initial position. Kyle blinked a couple of tears away and continued with his introduction. “You go hard my boy, and I mean that in the best possible way. You play hard and you love hard and we’re all so lucky to be a part of it. A lot of us learned the hard way” he chuckled. “Your head butts are not to be underestimated” he warned playfully. “Nor are your sick soccer tricks. But one of my favorite memories of you was as a little baby. I’m sure you don’t remember this, but you had trouble eating when you were first born. It stressed a lot of us out, but mostly your mamas. Whew, were they worried about you.”

“What? Why didn’t I eat? I love to eat” Dodge twisted around to look up at his uncle.

“Oh umm...” Kyle realized his mistake too late. To answer his nephew he would have to tell the whole story about how he didn’t take to Ashlyn’s breast very well. He was NOT going there, that was for sure. “Your moms just had to find the right bottle for you, that’s all. But then you started eating like a champ.”

Most of the adults in the room knew the rest of the story and had to hide giggles at the blush on Kyle’s face.

“I had a great time putting this video together for you because you’re almost always a happy kid” Kyle continued before Dodge could ask any other questions. “But you also gave me several heart attacks with some of your crazy daredevil antics. You’re a wild man I’ll tell ya. But you’re super soft and sweet on the inside and that’s so important – to have both. And one day, when you’re a famous football player, maybe after you win the superbowl even, maybe you’ll feel like taking a peek back at who you were and how you were as a little kid. That’s what this video is for Dodge. If you ever need a reminder about what’s so special about you – just press play and you’ll see an hour’s worth of fearless love. I love you my daredevil nephew. And that’ll never change.”

When the hour was over and the video had come to an end, Ashlyn was grateful that Lily had gone first because it would have been very tough to follow Dodge’s footage. The kid was just special. He was a charmer and he lit up the screen even when he wasn’t trying. 

“You captured him perfectly” Ali hugged her brother first this time, with Ashlyn coming in with the late hug a minute later. “Thank you BB, for being the absolute best uncle in the whole world.”

“You outdid yourself this time” Ashlyn added emotionally. “Our kids are so fucking lucky to have you. Thank you, Kyle.”

//

There were several very interesting conversations that took place at the twins’ birthday party that day. One of them was between Ashlyn and her parents as they stood in the empty lot watching the kids scream their faces off, mostly with glee and excitement, on their way down the zipline. 

“Are you sure you feel safe with him?” Tammye asked, alarm filling her face. “If he’s as troubled as you say he is...”

“I know mom, I know” Ashlyn sighed but rubbed her mother’s arm reassuringly. “He has a lot of...issues, but I know he’s not dangerous or anything. I wouldn’t be that dumb.”

“It’s not about being dumb, Bash” Mike Harris finally chimed in after listening to his ex-wife and his daughter discuss strange cousin Jeremiah from New Hampshire. 

Ashlyn had been hoping that they could give her some information on the erstwhile family member but Tammye had explained that her own father’s sister was the black sheep of the family. Aunt Sarah had moved to NH without any fanfare and never been heard from again. 

“It’s that big heart of yours” he furrowed his brow with concern. “It makes decisions for you sometimes – whether they’re smart or not.”

It was the truth and all three of them knew it. Gram used to say that Ashlyn’s heart was her biggest gift but also her Achilles heel. Nothing had changed, other than the keeper’s heart growing larger with each new child that entered her life. 

“I want to get to know him, but I’m gonna be smart about it. We’ll take baby steps at first and if something goes wrong, or if I think he’s too...damaged or whatever, I’ll cut it off. I will. I swear” the blonde looked at her parents as if she was asking for their permission. Maybe she was, in some odd way.

Tammye and Mike shared a familiar look. It was a look they had given each other in a hundred different situations in the past - every time their daughter came to them with another outlandish plot or far-fetched dream. It was a look every parent understood. They hoped she would achieve her goal, but they were afraid of the cost she would have to pay to get there. They were worried about the toll it would take on her. Nothing had changed now that Ashlyn was a 47-year old woman with a family of her own. Tammye and Mike still worried about her getting her heart broken or being bitterly disappointed by the failings of others. Sometimes those others that failed her were her own damned parents too. That was never lost on Tammye or Mike.

“Please be careful honey” Tammye implored with an anxious half-smile. “That’s all we’re asking” she nodded at Mike. “Protect yourself, for once.” 

“I will mom. I promise.” 

Other conversations were entertaining. Mike Harris and Ken Krieger took turns putting the fear of God into Charlie Applegate, should he ever break Meg’s heart. Ashlyn was biding her time, waiting for the grandfathers to lay the groundwork for her to come in for the kill shot at the end of the day. She already knew that she liked the young man and approved of the relationship between he and Meg, but he didn’t have to know that. Not right away anyway. Ashlyn didn’t have a cruel bone in her body, but she wanted to make Charlie sweat, just a little bit. She couldn’t help it.

Ali, on the other hand, had already embraced the young man, making him feel comfortable at all of his previous visits to the big old house. She hadn’t seen much of him in the two months since Meg’s birthday and pregnancy scare. The brunette didn’t think it was a tactical absence as much as the college juniors’ schedules had gotten busy that Spring. Ali was eager to welcome Charlie to the family now that he and the redhead were officially a couple with long-term goals in mind. Ashlyn had told her that Meg had confessed her love for the young man and Ali was determined to make both Charlie and Meg feel comfortable together in the house so they would visit more often.

“Hey Charlie, how’s it going over here?” the brunette asked with a smile as she approached the young man standing by himself in the far corner of the front yard. 

He was on the other side of the house near the empty lot, but up near the front and away from the zip-line activity. It was just after 5pm and she wasn’t sure how long he had been standing there but she was pretty sure it had been a while. 

“Pretty good” he smiled and nodded amiably. “Just waiting for Meg.”

“Ah, ok” Ali tried desperately not to laugh at the young man, dropping her head down and brushing something imaginary off of the bottom of her shirt while she willed herself not to smile too big. “Did she ask you to wait here? I mean, did Meg herself ask you?”

“Um, no” Charlie frowned just a bit, not sure where the peculiar conversation was going.

“Was it my brother, Kyle? Did he tell you she wanted you to wait here?” she paused but then added a description when she saw a blank look cross his face. “Big guy, beard, trees tattooed on his forearm?” she held her left arm out and pointed to where Kyle’s trees were on his arm.

“Yeah, it was. I’m sorry I didn’t know he was your brother” Charlie’s unnecessary embarrassment at not having perfected the family tree yet made Ali like him even more.

“I don’t expect you to know him” she patted his arm kindly and gave him a warm smile. “But I’m pretty sure you won’t forget him after today” she giggled, despite her best efforts not to.

“I’m not following” Charlie frowned again and shifted his weight, getting impatient and uncomfortable at the same time.

“How long have you been waiting here for her?”

“About...” he looked at his watch and frowned again. “Geez, about 45 minutes” he looked up at Ali with concern on his attractive face. “Is she ok?”

The brunette felt her heart tug for the young man again. What a good guy he was. Handsome too. He was tall, dark, and handsome but in a slightly nerdy way. He was 6’4” tall with a medium build and a very deep voice. He didn’t work out much but he was active enough to stay pretty trim, even with his hectic college schedule. Ali was sure most of that was due to Meg’s good influence both in terms of physical exercise and nutrition. He had short, straight, brown hair – not too short, but still short, and brown eyes. His face looked round but the effect was caused because his ever-present grin pulled his attractive, oblong-shaped face up, not because it was actually round. He was quite handsome but didn’t seem to realize it. Ali knew, from talking with Meg, that it was because he had grown up as a nerd, never part of the popular crowd. He had grown into his good looks as he got older and taller and more filled out. He was the very best of both worlds. Smart, funny, weirdo, science nerd who turned out to be good-looking and kind too.

“She’s fine. She’ll be pissed at Kyle, but she’s fine.” Ali smiled again and tried to put him at ease. “My brother’s punking you. He used to do this to the guys I dated in high school” she rolled her eyes and chuckled. “He’s watching us right now from somewhere” she nodded over her shoulder at the house. “But don’t look. Don’t give him the satisfaction” she winked at Charlie who was frowning from frustration instead of confusion now. “I’m sorry about him. The good news is that he wouldn’t bother to tease you like this if he didn’t like you. If that makes you feel any better.”

“I guess so” the tall man let his shoulders drop in defeat. “Is Meg still here?”

“Of course she is” Ali took him by the arm and started walking him towards the front door of the big old house. “Kyle’s probably keeping her busy or distracted so she wouldn’t go looking for you. He’s no amateur at this stuff. I guarantee she has no idea what he’s up to.”

“Oh ok” it was impossible to miss the relief in his deep voice as he chuckled.

“Listen, before we go inside” Ali stopped him on the front porch, right outside the front door. “I just want to tell you how happy I am to have you here. Both today, at the party – that means a whole lot to my wife and I by the way, thank you for spending your Sunday with us, and also just with Meg in general. You’ve probably gotten the third degree from some people today and it’s not a reflection on you...”

“I get it” he smiled and looked, for a minute, like a goofy, lovestruck teenager. “You all want to make sure I’ll be good for her. I understand. I’m glad really. It’s great how you all have her back like that. I’m an only child and I always wished I had something like your family...that kind of back-up” he shrugged and looked down, embarrassed at his candor. It was easy to talk to the brunette and he could see why Meg had always spoken so highly of her.

“Well, if you’re good to Meg then we’re all yours” Ali grinned. “But be careful what you wish for” she cautioned with a playful quirk of her eyebrow. “Oh, and watch out for Dodge. He’s stronger than he looks” she paused as she opened the front door, studying Charlie carefully. “Do you bruise easily?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love HAO and I'm happy she got an assist and a goal in her celebration game. She'd better win goal of the week too. Ashlyn played another tremendous game - seriously, she's playing lights out right now and I'm here for it!!! Ali and Shelina both played well again too. I think that was the worst line-up I've ever seen from Skinner last night. I know his options are severely limited and they were playing their 3rd game in a week but boy was that front line green. The forwards got bossed off the ball all game long, and the midfielders weren't any better. Weatherholt looked bad. Viggiano looked lost. Kennedy was the only MFer who seemed up to the task. And Lord help me those outside backs last night!! I think it was Greening's worst game of the season. I'm not sure she completed a single pass all game. She just kept giving the ball back to NC. And Edmonds.... she's a terrible terrible defender. We all knew that. But I've never seen her play worse than she did last night. And I'm not even talking about the own goal (although - JFC are you kidding me???). She was either getting beaten in 1v1s or watching players just run past her. Ali and Shelina were the only ones sprinting back to try and help Ashlyn. Edmonds jogged at best or didn't even bother trying to get back. I was so disgusted with her play. And I like Edmonds as a midfielder. The few times she found herself up and in the midfield she made a couple of good passes. But nothing could make up for her pitiful play on the backline. Atrocious. Ali's in Virginia with Kyle and her Dad, and Ashlyn is in Orlando with Logan. I hope they get some rest and find some peace of mind that lets them get back on the field in 2 weeks for the Sky Blue game. They're playing their asses off and I can't even imagine how frustrating it must be for them.


	27. Ashlyn Harris Sports Complex

After several construction delays mostly due to bad weather, the Ashlyn Harris Sports Complex opened for business the following weekend. The grand opening, complete with all the local dignitaries from the four towns that made up Cape Ann, and a fancy ribbon-cutting ceremony, was pretty special to both the keeper and her wife. Gloucester, where the complex was located, along with the three other towns that comprised Cape Ann – Rockport, Essex, and Manchester, were represented in full force. The ceremony was held in the late afternoon on one of the last Saturdays of the youth sports Spring season so almost everybody could attend if they wanted to. And they wanted to. The Gloucester High School marching band was there blasting out fight songs and the cheerleaders were performing their hearts out to an immense crowd. The construction company who had worked so hard for over two years to complete the complex were going to find out very quickly if the plumbing in the bathrooms was going to pass muster. The place was packed!

Before it was all said and done, proclamations were made, dedications were read, jokes about the project being two months late were made and then made some more, ribbons were cut, speeches were given, and subtle tears of joy and pride and happiness were shed by many in the extended Krieger family. All three members of the Harris clan stayed in Cape Ann for 2-1/2 weeks so they could go to the twins’ birthday party, the Sports Complex grand opening, and Drew’s birthday which was the following weekend. Tammye, Carol, and Mike watched proudly, beaming at Ashlyn as she stood there on the stage and gave her speech. Even the kids seemed to understand that this was something pretty cool and paid close attention to what their Mama was saying and doing. It wasn’t like anybody else’s parent had a huge sports complex named after them. Sometimes, because Ashlyn was humbled by motherhood and real life at home, the kids forgot she was a big deal. There was no forgetting that Saturday afternoon. No way. No how. 

Jonathan Kraft gave a beautiful speech, talking about the enormity of the love and respect his father, Bob Kraft, had felt for Ashlyn during his lifetime. He spoke just as highly of the keeper that afternoon as his father ever had before him. Jonathan told stories about how quickly and easily Ashlyn had adapted to her new ownership role. He talked about how hard she pushed for the team to have the things they needed to be successful on and off the pitch. He described her as a true champion of the team – constantly pushing for more because she knew she was in a position to do so. Several former Breakers players made the trip up to Cape Ann to add their voices to the growing chorus of Ashlyn Harris admirers. 

After the local politicians, including the governor of Massachusetts herself, had added their two cents and gotten their photos taken with Ashlyn, it was the keeper’s turn to get up and talk. As usual, Ali was the only person in the vicinity who knew Ashlyn was nervous. Nobody else could tell. She looked as cool as a cucumber, exactly as she did on tv when she was commenting on women’s soccer. It was an odd event to dress for and Ashlyn had struggled for days trying to decide exactly what to wear. She wanted to be dressed up to meet the governor and other big wigs. But it was a Saturday afternoon and she had just finished coaching Lily’s softball game. It was a very casual event but she still wanted to look respectable. She finally settled on one of her tried and true looks, one that she knew her wife loved too. Ashlyn wore perfectly tailored chinos in light tan with a pair of suede derbie shoes that were almost the exact same color, only her Breakers blue socks, barely visible when she bent her knees, broke up the color match. She continued the theme by wearing a crisp collared shirt in Breakers blue with the sleeves folded up neatly to her elbows and top two buttons at the neck open. It was untucked and fell just below her waist, fitting her still-slim figure nicely. Nobody would mistake her for a professional athlete in training anymore, but she was still in good shape. There was a red bandana-style scarf rolled and tied close around her neck, giving the outfit the bit of pop and pizazz she preferred. She wore her favorite rings and diamond stud earrings and a flashy watch on her left wrist. Her blonde hair was wonderfully shaggy and her make-up was expertly applied to make those tawny hazel eyes dazzle. She looked gorgeous. It was a perfect combination of simple but stylish, casual-dressy attire and it was something Ashlyn had perfected years ago. The only thing she struggled with after making her decision to go with the Breakers blue theme was whether or not to wear one of her beloved Nick Fouquet hats. She had deferred to her wife on that one and gone without.

“It’s your big day honey” Ali had counseled, “let everybody see your beautiful face.”

The keeper did a great job at the microphone. She sounded humble and sincere and got through the pages of thank-yous she needed to read out loud to the crowd and the public at large, but still managed to crack a few jokes and make everyone laugh too. She moved on to thank her own coaches and mentors from her playing career, her teammates, and the fans who had always been so devoted to the blonde. She got choked up as she paid her respects to Bob Kraft and the entire Kraft family, making sure everybody knew how generous and kind they had always been to her – regardless of her role with the team.

“And finally, I’d like to thank my family and our closest friends” Ashlyn smiled as she glanced up and acknowledged the enormous cheer that erupted from the Harrises and Kriegers and Kimballs and Wilds and Dwyers and Flanagans and Crosses. “There are so many of them here today. What? Don’t you people have lives of your own?” she quipped good-naturedly. “Nothing better to do on a beautiful Saturday afternoon? Man, that’s embarrassing.”

“We love you too Ash!!” Sydney Leroux Dwyer screamed out, making everybody laugh all over again.

“Ok, here we go” the keeper sighed and took a beat once things had calmed down again. “I’m gonna try and get through this without losing it because they really deserve to have everybody hear this...” she cleared her throat and took a deep breath as more people in the crowd shouted out support to the keeper. “I need to thank my family, my wife and my kids – all of whom are here today” she turned to look just off the side of the small stage and waved at Ali and all 5 children. “That’s my heart and soul right there...” she nodded at them and fought to keep her emotions in check, “...my whole world. And I couldn’t do anything without their love and support. I love you guys” she gave them a watery grin and felt her heart pang when she saw the kids’ cute faces all beaming back at her. It was impossible to miss the pride and devotion on their faces as they looked at their Mama.

The pictures from that day were framed and placed prominently in the big old house. Ashlyn in her Breakers blue dress shirt and the kids in various states of Saturday attire. Lily still had her softball uniform on because she decided she didn’t want to change clothes at the complex like her Mama was doing. Nobody had time to fight with her about it so there she was in her softball team t-shirt with hot pink shorts and flip flops, long blonde hair in two braids as was her preferred style for athletics those days. It was easy to overlook her outfit when you saw the big smile on her face. Drew and Dodge were dressed alike in the nicest, most dressy shorts and polo shirts they owned. The older boy had chosen a blue color for his shirt to match Ashlyn’s and made Ali emotional when she saw him come down the front stairs at home. Dodge had opted for a black polo because he equated ‘formal’ with black and it made sense to him that the black polo, even with the small tear in the shoulder from an impromptu wrestling match some time ago, was the best choice. 

Josie decided to wear a pretty but comfortable beige skirt with a flowery blouse for a top. She looked like a quasi-bohemian and Ashlyn and Ali both got a flash forward to the sort of style they thought the young redhead might choose in college. Maybe even high school. The other redhead in the group, Meg, looked absolutely beautiful in a soft, flowing heather green dress, sleeveless to show off the arms she had been working so hard for in the weight room at BC. She also stood out because she was almost 6’ tall and towered over 5’6” Ali and the kids. The brunette had them all beat, at least in Ashlyn’s eyes, with a beautiful sleeveless dress of her own. It was black with a scoop neck and it was fitted perfectly for her, hugging her in all the right places while still looking professional and classy. It fell to just above her knees and there was a 2-foot swath of roses in different sizes and shades of red and pink that went all the way around the dress but at a slight angle. The swath started low on her right hip and angled up to her left shoulder in a gentle display of color that was the focal point of the dress. She kept her hair down and held it in place with the sunglasses on top of her head when they weren’t in place on her face. Her wedding and engagement set rings played nicely off the slender silver watch she wore on her left wrist. Her own diamond stud earrings completed the minimalist jewelry she had always preferred and the small black purse and low black heels finished the outfit. 

The crowd applauded loudly again at the tender words from the keeper and Ashlyn used the two minutes to get her shit together so she could finish her speech the way she wanted to.

“The last thing I want to say, I swear I’m almost done” she chuckled as the crowd laughed. “Seriously though, I know the signage at this incredible place has my name on it and that’s more humbling than I can even try and explain. That was Mr. Kraft’s idea. I tried to change it but they wouldn’t let me” she laughed.

“It’s true!” Jonathan Kraft yelled out and laughed with her.

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate it, because I absolutely do” she clarified, letting her eyes scan the whole expansive place as she got ready to end her speech. “I couldn’t be more grateful or humbled by this amazing place. But I want to dedicate it to two other people. Without them, none of this would be possible. Without them...well...I wouldn’t even be here. I’m talking about my grandparents who were lifelong residents of Gloucester. They were born here and they both died here and I still go visit them not too far from this very spot. I didn’t see them much when I was a little girl growing up in Florida, but then one summer, when I was 7, my brother and I came up here for the first time and we were hooked. I spent many summers here with my grandparents after that and I have so many great memories of that time I got to spend with them. I wouldn’t be the woman that I am today without them. I know this beautiful sports complex, with my name on the sign out front, right here in their hometown” her voice started to crack just a bit but she kept going, willing herself to stay strong for just a few minutes more, “right here in my hometown, would make them so proud. So I’m officially dedicating this to John and Lilian Burnham.” She sucked in a quick breath and looked up to the clear, blue sky for a second, addressing one last heartfelt remark there. “I love you guys.”

//

There were so many things - sights, sounds, feelings, people - for Ashlyn to take in that day that it almost overwhelmed her. Each time she encountered a familiar face from her past or experienced a loving embrace from her present, the keeper’s emotions raced off on her. She felt constantly out of breath, as if she had physically been running all afternoon to try and catch up to those emotions. Former teammates, business people that she worked with now at the MHI and at K-H, friends from Florida and DC and New England, players from current Boston sports teams, all made their appearances to show love and respect to the woman who had come to Boston in 2015 and won everybody over. She turned everyonr into a fan and it wasn’t just her skill between the pipes. Ashlyn had always been uniquely herself, right from the very first day. She was open and honest and charming and flawed and real. Every step she had taken with and for her team and teammates, every statement she had ever made, were honest reflections of who she was and what she believed. That was a huge part of the reason for her continued popularity and success, even 11 years after hanging up her boots and retiring. Nobody ever doubted that they were hearing the truth from Ashlyn Harris, and that went for teammates, sponsors, fans, business partners, everybody. It was the secret to her success.

As proud as Ashlyn was of her playing career and her legacy with the Breakers and in the NWSL as a player who left it all on the field and brought her very best to each and every game and training session, she was just as proud of her off-field accomplishments too. That went back to her first foray into behind the scenes league issues, like trying to improve the officiating. The fact that she was now an active member of NWSL ownership blew her mind when she stopped to think about it. She was proud of what she and some of the other owners were doing to improve and expand the league. The work she did as a soccer expert and color commentator for the USWNT and other major international women’s soccer events was a second act that she had never anticipated, not ever. She assumed she would play some soccer in the NWSL and then go on to become a coach somewhere back home in Florida. Maybe, if she was lucky, she’d get to lead a team to an NCAA college cup championship. Ashlyn was proud of so many things, when somebody made her sit down and consider everything. She was proud of her career and her soccer, past and present. She was proud of The Academy. She was proud of the Mental Health Initiative in a very special way. And she was proud of Knight-Harris more than any of the other businesses because it was a wonderful platform for the sports and entertainment world to see just how freaking amazing Alexandra Krieger was. Nothing made the keeper happier than seeing her wife recognized for her brilliance and that happened a lot through their work at K-H.

But more than all of that, and that’s a whole freaking lot!, Ashlyn was proud of her family - of her marriage and her kids. She had fought hard for all of them and the wins at home, with Ali or with the kids, were just as sweet for her now as the NWSL championships had been back in her playing days. Seeing Drew slowly become more confident as he got ready to finish out his last year of middle school; listening to Josie push past the bullying at school – conquering it by pouring her heart and soul into the piano every afternoon when she came home; admiring Dodge’s boundless energy and constant yearning to master whatever trick or stunt or maneuver that had caught his eye; watching Lily grow into her own little person, being comfortable in her own self and not just being known as her brother’s twin; cheering on Meg in her burgeoning college soccer career; all felt just as momentous to Ashlyn as winning the NWSL’s best goalkeeper award. 

Having her two worlds collide that afternoon at the grand opening ceremony was something she would never ever forget. Any parent would tell you that having your kid appreciate your job and realize that you were good at what you did for a living was one of the top moments in motherhood. Instead of simply being the chauffeur or the cook or the maid or the money machine...your kid saw you, really saw you, as a human being that other people looked up to and admired and respected. You could almost see the sparks inside their small brains as wires got crossed while they tried to process the two seemingly opposing concepts. My mom is cool? My mom is a rockstar goalkeeper? My mom is so famous and awesome that they built an entire sports complex and named it after her? And famous people came all the way to Gloucester, MA - to our little old hometown? - to tell her how incredible she is too? Young Krieger minds were blown to smithereens that afternoon.

The Boston sports scene had changed over the past 10 years or so. The Patriots weren’t going to the Superbowl every year anymore, they’d only made it there 3 times in the past 10 years, and hadn’t won it since 2026. Everybody knew the post-Belichick/Brady era would be tough. Since Bill and Tom retired, the Patriots had made the playoffs most years but they’d had quarterback trouble, mostly due to injury, that was really keeping them from winning the biggest games with any consistency. 

The Red Sox had been good, but not great. They’d won two championships in the past 10 years, 2024 & 2029, but they hadn’t been a dominant team in either season. The Sox were fighting with their hated rivals, the New York Yankees, for first place in the division again – as usual. 

The Boston Bruins had been competitive despite two head coaches in a row who had been bad hires and had crippled the team’s chances to win the Stanley Cup. The Bruins won it all in 2020 and then again in 2023 but not since then. The 10-year drought had culminated in a full-scale reboot this offseason. They would be rebuilding when they came back in the Fall to try again. 

The Boston Celtics were on a hot streak the past few years, after several seasons trying to get the right mix of players who were all willing to pull in the same direction at the same damned time. They started making playoff runs, deeper each time, in the 2026-2027 season, and again in 2027-2028. They won it all in the 2028-2029 season and then again last year, in the 2031-2032 campaign. They were a team on the rise, improving every year, reminiscent of the Patriots teams in the 2010s. The Celtics were on track again this year, already fighting through the playoffs and trying to repeat as champions.

The New England Revolution had become a consistently high-performing team in the MLS and Tanner Wild was still doing his job in the midfield. The MLS was getting better and better and many of the famous stars from the European leagues were coming to the US to play out their last couple of years before retiring. The fans loved it. Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic had started a trend and dozens of players had followed their lead in the 15 years since Rooney joined the DC United team and Zlatan the LA Galaxy. The Revs’ big ex-European player was one of the best goalkeepers in the last decade, a Spanish international named Diego Aldana, who had won bigtime games for both Spain and his club team – Chelsea in the English Premiere League. The Revolution had been making deep playoff runs and had won the MLS championship 2 years ago, back in 2031 – the year Robert Kraft had passed away. They were in season now and had just won their home game the night before. Attendance and popularity of soccer in general had been on the rise in America for almost 20 years now and it finally felt like the MLS was on an equal footing with the other mainstream men’s leagues – the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL. It felt incredible.

On the women’s side of things, Boston continued to be one of the best sports cities in the country. The Breakers were more popular than ever and had continued to be among the league leaders in every category both on and off the pitch. They were riding the high of the championship win two seasons ago and hoping to win it all again this year, although some devastating injuries had dimmed those hopes a bit. Abby Smith was still the coach and doing a wonderful job of integrating much-needed youth with hard-won wisdom and experience among the players. They were hosting the Toronto Riverhawks tomorrow night and everyone was expecting a great game. It would be a challenge for the team to thrive after the injury setbacks, but nobody counted them out. One thing the Breakers had always had, ever since 2015, was heart. 

Kamala Pierce, the rookie who had suffered through horrible, sexist, misogynistic abusive treatment from her dick of an agent at K-H, was starting her 13th and final WNBA season in a couple of weeks. She was still one of the most talented point guards in the league at 33 years old but she and her husband of four years, the film star she had competed on the Newlywed Game for the Engen Foundation back in 2029, wanted to start a family. The Beacons had won their first WNBA championship back in 2024 and then two more since then – 2029 and 2031. The team and the city and the fans were all hoping they could win one more for Kamala and send her out on top, as she deserved.

The Boston Pride were not the dominant team in the NWHL anymore but it was a good thing, overall. The league had hit a few snags along the way, much as the first couple of professional women’s soccer leagues had, and hadn’t grown as big and successful as the NWSL or the WNBA. Yet. The Pride were still a great hockey team and they made the playoffs every single year, but the parity in the league made it hard for any one team to really take over. And that made for great, competitive hockey and the fans benefitted immensely from it. After Boston’s run of championships early on, things had evened out among the other teams. The Pride’s last championship victory was in the 2030/2031 season. The Minnesota team had won the last two championships, back to back, and Boston was looking to knock them off their pedestal when the new season started that Fall.

And finally, the Providence Rebels were the only softball team in New England that was part of the North American Women’s Professional Softball League (NAWPSL). The league had started in 2027 and focused mostly on the Southwestern part of the US, along with Mexico and Canada. The eastern half of both Canada and the US had taken a couple of years to get involved. Providence had been playing since 2029 but hadn’t really found their groove yet. But they were making progress. The best thing was that Providence, RI loved having a professional sports team right there in their city. The fans and supporters groups made the players feel loved and appreciated from the get-go and the players, in turn, did everything in their power to bring home more wins than losses.

Boston, and New England, would always be a big, thriving sports city and area. Ashlyn was struck, as she tried to take in everything during her big day, by two things. First, the growth in popularity and acceptance of women’s sports in general. The fight wasn’t over but female athletes were making progress every single year. And second, the way Americans had finally embraced soccer. Even in the heartland, in those Midwest cities where everybody said soccer would never catch on, fans were showing up in droves to support their soccer teams. It had taken such a long time but finally, the time had come. Ashlyn looked out over her people, her mass of family and friends and had to suck in a breath to keep her composure.

She saw Meg introducing members of her Boston College soccer team to Hilary Knight and Megan Duggan and other former members of the US Women’s National Hockey team. She saw Drew and Ethan Machado still looking starstruck as Julian Edelman joked with them – even though they had known him their whole lives. She saw Kamala Pierce and Ali talking with one of the biggest and brightest young NBA stars who happened to get drafted by the Celtics two years earlier. He hadn’t signed with K-H but Ashlyn could see her wife working her magic on him and she could swear she saw Kamala wink back at her as she took in the scene. So many famous athletes, past and present, who had come into contact with Ashlyn over the years had made their way up to Gloucester that afternoon to show their support. It was unbelievable. 

Maybe the interaction that had left the biggest mark on the blonde was the one between her kids and Diego Aldana – the veteran Spanish keeper who was playing his first season for the Revs. Ashlyn couldn’t believe her ears when she heard the all-world goalkeeper who had won every kind of tournament you could imagine, including a World Cup with Spain, talking to her brood as he had stopped to pay his respects and say goodbye. The soccer fanatic kids were beside themselves to be in the presence of such a God of the pitch.

“I’m not joking” the tall man said with a serious nod of his head. His accent was still thick enough where the kids had to really concentrate to understand him. “Your mother was the best woman keeper I ever saw.”

After another round of scoffs and disbelief, with no disrespect intended towards their Mama, Drew found his voice.

“You saw her play? In the NWSL?”

“I never got to see her play in person” he shook his head as he replied. “I was in university then, in Madrid, but...” he paused and his brow wrinkled as he tried to remember the timing correctly, “...I don’t know what year it was, maybe my first or my second” he shook his head as he moved past the annoying hurdle in the story. “But we couldn’t believe how tough this keeper was” he grinned down at Ashlyn who was standing behind the kids with Meg - who was just as starstruck as her siblings but was trying hard not to show it. “She played a championship game with broken ribs!” his eyebrows lifted to his hairline and his voice filled with excitement and awe. “And she played very well!”

Dodge and Lily, in particular, were blown away by this famous person praising their Mama so highly. The twins weren’t even alive when Ashlyn played soccer. They had missed every part of her participation as a player and it was times like this one where both Ali and Ashlyn were sorry about it. There was nothing they could do about it, but it still made them sad for the twins – not in a cocky way. The NWSL and Ashlyn’s soccer career were such a huge part of their lives for a long time. Playing soccer, at a very very high level, was something Ashlyn had worked so hard for and taken such pride in, it was just a shame that Dodge and Lily, and Josie too for that matter, had little to no memory of it at all. Only Meg and Drew remembered it, and Drew just barely. He had been 3 years old and had vague memories of being on the pitch in the stadium for introductions with all the fans screaming. No wonder he didn’t like to be the center of attention now. Both moms joked about that privately.

“You watched her play?” Dodge asked, his face still filled with awe and disbelief. “Her?” he turned sideways and pointed at Ashlyn which made all the grown-ups laugh, even Diego. 

“I did. After I saw the video of them unwrapping all the bandages and protections she had to play with in that game, I thought to myself – who is this person who can play and endure such pain?” he paused, his face serious again, wanting to help the youngster learn to appreciate the accomplishments of his mother. “I saw a famous American football player talk about her toughness” he referenced Julian Edelman on his trip down memory lane for Ashlyn. “Some fans, they made videos of just her saves from each game and I watched them online. I loved how she attacked the ball and the player coming towards her” his eyes flashed. “Some keepers wait and wait and wait too long” he gave a cautionary cock of his head as he continued to address the kids. “The hard part is to know when to go and attack and I never saw anybody know that better than your mother. Man or woman. And when it was the right time, she was fearless.”

“Did you see the time she beat the player to the ball but got kicked in the head?” Josie asked, surprising both of her mothers with her level of interest and knowledge.

“I did see that” Diego sucked in a breath. “Fearless. That’s what fearless is” he nodded solemnly. “And, most important, she got to the ball first. That’s where talent and skill come in. It’s no good to just be fearless. You have to be three things” he used his thumb to begin counting, then moved on to his index finger, and then middle finger, gesturing each time. “You have to train your body and be a good athlete. You have to learn technique and practice your skills. You have to be strong up here” he pointed at his head with his other hand, and then at his heart “and here. Fearless.”

That one interaction was the reason that summer would be known forevermore as the summer of the goalkeepers. Everybody decided they were going to be a goalkeeper like their Mama, and Diego Aldana. All summer long they played more soccer than usual, almost to the complete exclusion of any other sport, and they fought over who would be the keeper first. They fought over the iPad and laptop to watch all the old videos of Ashlyn’s games. They talked about the games during dinner and asked the keeper questions. All four younger kids did all of those things, repeatedly, all summer long. Ali was beside herself with happiness. She had always been Ashlyn’s biggest fan and loved when other people fully appreciated the keeper for her incredible talents on the pitch. The brunette had done her best over the years to tell the kids about Ashlyn’s excellence, but it was usually quickly forgotten. It had taken a soccer God, a stranger, to make an impression on them. That summer was a gift that Ashlyn found hard to describe. There weren’t words that could express how amazing it felt to be a hero in your kids’ eyes. Even if she knew it wouldn’t go on forever. She would gratefully take it for as long as it lasted. 

//

The busy Saturday afternoon lingered on into the evening with friends and family hanging around the Complex. Ali had foreseen former-teammates and far away friends wanting to spend more time with Ashlyn so she had arranged for an informal dinner buffet to be served in one of the big rooms inside the fancy new main building. The keeper was surprised, but appreciative. She gladly spent 3 more hours catching up with people who had meant a lot to her along the way to where she was now. The four families all hung out too, enjoying many of the complex’s amenities for the very first time. Ashlyn was concerned, at first, until Jonathan Kraft assured her that if anybody had a right to use the place whenever she wanted, it was her. It turned out to be a wonderful evening that Ashlyn would never forget. Kyle, as usual, was taking tons of pictures so nobody would forget.

“Alright, you ready for one more surprise sweetheart?” Ali wrapped her wife up in a hug from behind as the keeper waved to the last car pulling away from the curb. 

It was 8:15pm and the only people left besides the couple were the facility manager and a clean-up crew, even though the Krieger group had been careful not to leave a big mess everywhere. The kids had all gone back to the big old house with grandparents and uncles and cousins.

“There’s more? Are you kidding me?” Ashlyn’s jaw dropped and she turned her head to get a look at her beautiful, thoughtful brunette.

“Well, not too much more” Ali giggled and got up on her tip toes to kiss her wife’s cheek. “Ready to go relax for the rest of the night? Maybe unwind with someone who loved you even before you got famous and had a big sports complex named after you?” she teased lightly and gave her wife a squeeze.

“Yeah” Ashlyn replied more enthusiastically than Ali had expected. “Is Whit still here? I thought she left a while ago...”

“Ha ha, very funny” Ali couldn’t keep her face from breaking into an enormous grin at the joke. She poked her wife hard in the ribs but didn’t let her out of her arms. “Jerk” she added with a laugh.

“Ow, watch those pointy fingers” Ashlyn yelped and then laughed along with her wife. “What’d I do? You asked me a question and I answered you” she extended the gag, dimpled grin on her face as she relished in the affection from the love of her life.

“Mmm Hmmm” Ali nodded and gave the blonde a playfully disapproving duck face, “but it was the wrong answer. You brat.” She tried to poke Ashlyn again but the keeper successfully blocked her attempts. The brunette finally gave up. “I guess I’ll go enjoy the fancy hotel room all by myself then...”

“Wait, what now?” Ashlyn turned around with an inquisitive look on her face. “Did you say fancy hotel?”

“I did” Ali nodded with a satisfied smirk. “Too bad you’d rather go hang out with your bestie. Your loss” she stepped off the curb and started to walk the short distance to the nice, new, borrowed Suburu sports coupe she had arranged for the evening, another surprise for the blonde. “Have a good night babe” she blew a kiss over her shoulder and kept walking.

Ashlyn was momentarily mesmerized by the swath of roses shimmering as the brunette’s ass moved inside the pretty dress. The keeper shook herself out of it when she heard the chirp of the car lock disengaging.

“Whoa, and that’s our ride?”

“This is my ride” Ali replied, feigning indifference as she got to the driver’s side door and shrugged.

“Ok, ok, I take it back” the keeper trotted over to the car, puppy dog eyes pleading her case as she reached for her wife’s bare arm. “I’m sorry about the joke. It wasn’t funny. Yes, hell yes, I want to unwind in the fancy hotel with you tonight baby” her words came out quickly. “Please?” she lifted Ali’s hand to her lips and kissed it, never taking her eyes off of her amused face.

The brunette would never in a million years be able to resist her sweet, chivalrous keeper. Not ever. Ashlyn had won her back at ‘Ok, ok. I take it back’ but Ali didn’t have to admit that out loud, did she?

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, Allstar” she smiled brightly at her wife and dangled the key up between them. “Wanna drive?”

They both knew Ashlyn loved driving those little sports coupes around, revving the engine and mastering the manual gear shift like a pro. That was exactly why Ali had arranged for it to be at the Sports Complex for their departure. She couldn’t remember what life had been like without Ashlyn’s sponsorship deal with Suburu – how had they survived without having vehicles of all shapes and sizes made available to them whenever and wherever they wanted? The brunette leaned over the center console between the seats and kissed her wife’s cheek as they drove up to Rockport to try the newest fancy hotel in the area. It was a boutique style hotel that had been very successful in NYC and had expanded into Boston a couple of years earlier. 

The Rockport location, called Stone Manor in honor of the Granite quarries that used to litter the Northern area of the town, was the newest one and it was located right on the ocean at the northernmost part of the coastal town. There had been a big legal battle from the neighbors up there who had tried to stop the hotel from being built. The developers bought two oceanfront lots from the respective aging owners with plans to build the boutique hotel in the area between Andrew’s Point to the East and Halibut State Park to the West. It had finally been completed earlier that Spring after much compromise. The developers had been severely restricted in terms of size and scope and, particularly, height of the hotel. None of the neighbors wanted their views of the ocean blocked and the town had ruled that the hotel had to ‘adhere to the aesthetics of the area’. That meant it had to look like a big old fancy mansion house instead of a hotel. Those decisions didn’t deter the developers. It only changed their approach. They tailored the new property accordingly and came out with a beautiful, sprawling, estate-like establishment that was grand but not gigantic.

“Wow, Stone Manor huh?” Ashlyn whistled as she steered the car onto Phillips Ave and headed towards the ocean. “How’d you make this happen? I heard it was booked solid for a year already.” 

“Oh, you know” Ali demurred with a sly smile. “If you go to enough PTA meetings and schmooze with the right people after soccer practice...” she chuckled.

“Annnnd?” the keeper pressed, knowing neither of those things was good enough to get a room at Stone Manor that year.

“And, maybe we need to give Gina and Chaz Phillips a tour of the stadium...” she shot a furtive glance at the blonde, trying to assess how pissed off she was. The jaw clenching, fist tightening, heavy sighing aggravation that she observed gave her a clear answer. She spoke quickly, trying to keep the good mood they’d both been in. “And I’ll get Tanner to meet with them. Both Chip and Fitz have been dying to get in there apparently.”

Ashlyn didn’t mind helping people out with a tour of the Revs/Breakers stadium, but she wouldn’t do it for just anybody and she tried not to do it too often. That’s just the way she was. She respected her job and the teams and the facility and staff too much to subject them to a bunch of whimsical glad-handing tours from the new part-owner. Ali knew this very well and admired her wife for sticking to it for over 2 years now. Gina Phillips had pissed the keeper off way back when Drew played his one, dreadful half-season of little league football. Truthfully, she had fallen out of favor with Ali at the same time too. Gina was the soccer mom who had looked over at the brunette and smiled apologetically while Drew was being heckled by the homophobic grandpa at the back of the bleachers. Somehow the fact that Gina had acknowledged the abhorrent behavior and still not done anything about it had irked both moms to no end. They were more upset with Gina than they were with the dozens of other moms who didn’t even bother to look at the Krieger family that day in the stands. It didn’t make any logical sense to either Ali or Ashlyn, but it was how they felt. 

They had always disliked Gina’s husband Chaz because he was a pompous ass who lived off of his rich family’s inheritance and thought he was the best thing since sliced bread. The Phillips family was one of the oldest and most prestigious on Cape Ann. The road they were driving down right that very minute was named after one of Chaz’s ancestors for God’s sake. And who decides to call themselves Chaz when they could just as easily have picked Charlie or Chuck for a nickname? Their three kids seemed to be ok, taking more after Gina than Chaz for the most part. There was a girl they didn’t know very well because she was three years older than Drew. Chip, another not great nickname for Charles in the Kriegers’ opinion, was Drew’s age and played football with him. Ali had coached him on Drew’s soccer team for several years as well. Fitz was their youngest and he was three years younger than Drew. Ashlyn was convinced that they planned out the pregnancies to be exactly three years apart for some dumb, rich person reason. That was also nonsensical but the keeper couldn’t help it. The Phillips family was precisely the type of family who had always made her life a living hell when she was growing up. Ashlyn inherently distrusted and disliked all of those snobby, preppy, wealthy families and it had been a big problem for her to overcome as she started rubbing shoulders with those very people in her business dealings. The only way she could stomach her routine and frequent interaction with them now was by reminding herself that she was trying to get them to invest their billions in the MHI or The Academy or K-H so they could help people.

“Fine.”

“It’s ok babe” Ali reached over and rubbed her wife’s arm as it rested with the heel of her palm on the stick shift between them. “I’ll take care of all of it. You won’t have to do a thing...”

“No, it’s ok” Ashlyn softened, remembering why her wife had made the deal with the devil in the first place. She had been trying to do something nice for the keeper on her big day. She gave Ali a quick smile before returning her attention to the darkening road in front of her. “It’s not a big deal. If it got us a room here tonight...” she wagged her eyebrows at her wife and smirked, “then it’s worth it.”

And boy was it worth it. The room was incredible. It felt almost like they were staying in one of the mansions from Newport, RI – only smaller. But the detailing and décor were ultra-luxurious and very swanky – all done in the tasteful style of uber-wealthy, blueblood, historically significant Bostonians. The real trick had been making the opulent room feel cozy and comfortable while incorporating marble pillars and lofty ceilings. It made some other fancy hotels look like roach motels in comparison. Their room had a king-sized bed, a stately looking fireplace with an elaborate mantel, a balcony that overlooked the rocky shoreline and the powerful Atlantic Ocean, and a lavish bathroom with all the amenities. The modern electronics were discreetly hidden away but easy to get to and use. The long, narrow room had the bathroom just to the right as you walked in the door, then a small area with a refrigerator and small sink with coffee maker on the right and a desk area across from it on the left. Past that was the main room with the bed on the right wall and dresser and tv on the opposite wall. Last but certainly not least was the double French inswing door, full-glass with dividers to break it up into rectangles, that opened gracefully so you could go out onto the decent-sized balcony. It was a gorgeous room and both women were very glad Ali had made the arrangements.

Ashlyn stepped right out onto the balcony and enjoyed the sea breeze, still a bit cool since it was only mid-May, while Ali unpacked a few things and made the place their own. When the brunette looked out towards the French doors after finishing unpacking in the bathroom a few moments later, she felt her breath hitch. Ashlyn stood there with the wind blowing through her shaggy locks and causing her shirttails and collar to flap and pull against her body. The balcony faced almost due North so there were no remnants of the sunset left but it wasn’t completely dark yet either. It was a few minutes before 9pm and it would be pitch black and colder within 30 minutes or so. But for those few moments in the in-between dusk, Ashlyn looked like she was glowing. Ali could swear she could see an aura or some trick of the light emanating off of her keeper’s form. The brunette stood frozen, just admiring her magnificent love. At the end of a day where so many people had exalted Ashlyn the way she deserved, where so many people acknowledged the keeper for the wonderful human being she was, where so many people shouted loud and clear how special the blonde was, Ali was very emotional. The brunette’s favorite thing was when people loved and admired Ashlyn the way she did. There she was, looking beautiful and powerful and soulful with the ocean and the dying dusk behind her. Ali felt deeply emotional about her amazing wife. Before the brunette could go and join her, Ashlyn turned around and spoke to her.

“Why are you staring at me from way back there? Come here before it gets all the way dark” she gestured and smiled that irresistible smile of hers.

Without hesitating for even a second, Ali walked quickly to her, feeling for a moment like she was underwater and surging towards the surface for life-giving oxygen and light. That’s how strong the need in her was as she took those 20 steps to her gorgeous keeper.

“I love you so much” she blurted out in a strangled cry as she threw herself into Ashlyn’s arms, surprising them both with her emotional outburst. She buried her face in her keeper’s neck and spoke in a desperate whisper. “I love you.”


	28. Stone Manor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of the night at Stone Manor....Smut warning.

After enjoying the last few minutes of beautiful dusk sky over the ocean, holding each other closely the whole time, Ashlyn led her wife back into the luxurious hotel room, closing the French doors behind them. Ali had been very emotional as she joined her keeper on the balcony, but she had assured Ashlyn that nothing was wrong. She had been overcome by the enormous love she felt for her keeper. Ashlyn understood because she often felt the same way about her beautiful brunette. It seemed silly to think that grown women who were almost 50 years old could still have their emotions run away with them, like schoolgirls, when they took in the sight of the woman they loved – but it was true. They wouldn’t admit it to anybody else, not even their best friends, but it was true.

The keeper saw the Bluetooth speaker her wife had unpacked on the dresser near the foot of the big bed and took a minute to get a playlist going. Ali held her wife from behind all the while, unwilling to have any separation between them.

“Dance with me?” the blonde asked softly once the first romantic song filled the room, and then nuzzled her cheek against Ali’s soft brunette hair once she turned around in the embrace.

“Always.”

The couple moved together in the space between the refrigerator and desk areas, cheek to cheek, slowly shifting their weight back and forth between occasional, leisurely spins. The light from the nightstand on the other side of the bed gave the room a soft, romantic feel. It was both comforting and exhilarating to breathe each other in like that, cheek to cheek, nose to soft, tantalizing skin. They were happy and relaxed. They had danced together like that hundreds of times, never shying away from impromptu spins around the kitchen whenever the spirit moved one or the other of them. No matter how busy or stressed out either of them ever were, they couldn’t refuse a dance request. Ashlyn, especially, used the tactic to de-stress her beautiful brunette. It worked like a charm. That night, however, there was no stress to eliminate or obligation to chase away. It was just the two of them, moving together as one, in their second favorite way.

By the time the third song began, Ali’s hands had found their way up underneath the hem of her wife’s blue dress shirt, gently caressing the soft skin of Ashlyn’s lower back and sides. It was almost 9:30pm but neither woman was tired. Not that night. The brunette had one last surprise for her wife too and wanted to get to it before their bodies finally did succumb to the exhaustion of the big and busy day. She waited for one more song, letting her hands wander farther in all directions and enjoying the way Ashlyn responded with touches of her own. The keeper couldn’t get to bare skin anywhere on the brunette’s body except for her arms and she was running out of patience. She didn’t want to admit it though. She was trying to play it cool and not look too eager. Finally, Ali moved her hands between their bodies and began unbuttoning the blue shirt from the bottom up while Ashlyn kept them close together as they danced to the fourth song. Her skin broke out in goosebumps under the gentle, ghostlike touches from Ali’s nimble fingers.

“Damn baby...” the keeper exhaled, her warm breath so near the brunette’s ear that it made Ali shudder in anticipation.

Ashlyn let her lips do what they’d been dying to do since they’d started dancing 15 minutes ago. She kissed her way, slowly, along her wife’s jawline from her ear right up to her chin. Before she could make the next move, Ali’s impatient lips moved down to kiss her, hard. They stumbled just a bit before the keeper steadied them, pushing the brunette back until her legs were pressed up against the edge of the bed. The kiss stayed heated, both women deepening it, exploring the other’s mouth with greedy tongues. Ashlyn reached up behind Ali’s neck and unhooked the clasp of her dress, pulling the zipper down at an agonizingly slow pace until her wife couldn’t take it anymore.

“Off...take it off me” she panted out after the passionate kiss. “I need...to feel you...all over me...please...”

The keeper wasn’t surprised by the request. She could tell Ali was in one of her clingy moods where no contact could possibly be enough. It was flattering as hell and Ashlyn loved these times with her beautiful brunette more than almost any other. They had all night together but there was an urgency from Ali that the keeper wasn’t going to deny or try to slow down. It had been an emotional day for Ashlyn as well. She felt more reflective than she had in a very long time, maybe ever. She felt a little raw and exposed and she was pretty sure her wife was dealing with her own emotions the best way she could that night. They would have sex and then end up talking, as they so often did, letting that deepest of connections guide them along the way. 

They took more time undressing each other than either of them had originally thought they would. It was almost as if Ali had pumped the breaks to keep the car from speeding too quickly down the steep hill, trying to avoid a crash that would halt everything else she had planned for the night. The brunette felt the extra vulnerability from her wife, despite the hot and heavy kisses and touches they were both enjoying. She took a deep, steadying breath and pulled back from Ashlyn’s soft, swollen lips. She let her hand travel down her keeper’s naked body, ghosting touches down her right side and looking lovingly at the colorful tattoos there.

“You ok?” Ashlyn asked softly, concern creasing her brow as she studied her beautiful wife’s face. 

“More than” Ali nodded back with a shy but sincere smile. “You?”

“There’s no place I’d rather be right now baby” the keeper leaned in and let her lips caress Ali’s neck.

“Good” she giggled and hummed in satisfaction at the soft touches on her neck.

The romantic lull of gentle touches and kisses as they stood there naked in each other’s arms lasted for a few minutes. Delicate caresses from fingers on non-erogenous zones gradually turned into subtle touches of other, more exciting, areas. Their kisses moved along at a similar pace, starting at sweet and simple and evolving into lingering and longing. Before 15 minutes was gone, the two wives were back to hungry gropes and desperate kisses as they made out passionately, still on their feet next to the bed with the romantic music continuing to fill the room.

“I wanna taste you so bad...” Ashlyn mumbled against her wife’s lips as they pulled apart for air. She pressed her thigh into Ali’s crotch and enjoyed the moan she got as a reply from the brunette’s throat.

“Me too” Ali managed to add as she sucked in big breaths, leaning her forehead against the blonde’s and feeling like every inch of both their bodies was as alive as they’d ever been.

Ashlyn started to guide them down onto the bed but Ali spoke up, seeming to come to her senses just before it was too late to remain on her feet.

“Wait, just one sec...” she stepped away from her keeper and grabbed the Bluetooth speaker from the hotel dresser. “Fix this” she placed it on the nightstand just behind Ashlyn with a giggle. The sexiness and unmistakable promise of what her next sentence meant made the blonde’s already racing pulse go even faster. “I’m done dancing.” 

Ali pulled the covers down to the foot of the enormous bed while Ashlyn changed to one of their latest sexy times playlists, both smiling seductively at the other as the rhythmic beats started to play. The brunette flopped down onto the mattress, rolling over onto her back with her head in the middle of the king-sized bed. Her feet were down near the foot of the bed where she had just been standing. Ashlyn got on her hands and knees from her spot at the top of the bed and crawled down to where her wife was waiting and watching. The keeper took her time but not too much time, maintaining eye contact the whole way. She stopped when her face was above Ali’s, upside down. They giggled as they kissed, both women letting their hands find more naked skin – arms, shoulders, breasts. Ashlyn was at a disadvantage because she was using one of her hands to support her body and could only enjoy her wife’s sexy form with the other. Ali reached up and happily found her keeper’s breasts and began a slow, sensual massage while their lips worked together in long, deep kisses. It was unusual and exciting to be kissing in the new position. They had done it before, but it certainly wasn’t the norm.

“Mmmm...I love your mouth” Ali mumbled between kisses, getting more turned on every second by the feel of Ashlyn’s nipples in her hands.

As if she were reading the brunette’s mind, Ashlyn crawled further down her wife’s body and moved her tingling lips to Ali’s small, perky breasts. She smirked against the smooth skin when she heard the brunette suck in a sharp breath. She knew it meant she was in a good spot. Before she could even pat herself on the back about it, she felt Ali pull her body down until she was supporting her upper body above the brunette on her elbows instead of her hands. Ali’s eager lips sucked Ashlyn’s breasts slowly and steadily, taking her time on one before alternating to the other.

“Damn baby...” the keeper moaned at the wonderful sensation. “God, that’s good.”

They both made meals out of soft, perky breasts, licking and sucking on them and then flicking the nipples for a change of pace. It was a luxury they didn’t usually spend time on when they were having sex in their bedroom at the big old house. Devoting 20 minutes solely to nipples and breasts felt incredible to both women and got them both amped up for what was next.

“I don’t want you to stop...” Ali panted out, writhing a bit from the ache between her legs “but I want so much more...”

“I know” Ashlyn let out a low chuckle that changed into a groan as she experienced a similar pang of desire deep in her core. “We need to do this more often, Jesus...”

The keeper took one more long lick of her wife’s beautiful breasts and then continued her crawl lower. The 69 position was still one of their favorites and neither of them saw that changing in the foreseeable future. As soon as Ali realized what was happening she turned onto her left side.

“No, I want to be on top this time” she rubbed her wife’s tattooed side above her and looked for her eyes, hoping the keeper would lower her head so she could see them. “Can I please give you your spot tonight?”

Ashlyn rested on her side, placing warm open-mouthed kisses on her wife’s hip as they smiled sexily at each other. They were both hot and bothered by this point and although the slight delay wasn’t the keeper’s favorite thing right at that moment, she couldn’t help but love her wife for wanting to switch positions. Having Ali on top of her chest, open and ready and waiting for her, was absolutely Ashlyn’s favorite spot in the world. Bar none. Yes, Ashlyn loved Ali’s ass more than anybody should really love anything, but the great thing about this position was that she had a great view of that ass and had easy access to it as well. It was a win-win situation for the keeper.

“As you wish, my queen” Ashlyn winked and smirked at her beautiful brunette as they shifted into position, both happy to get back to business without further delay. “God help me” the keeper murmured as she pulled Ali’s gorgeous body down on top of her, wet and ready pussy right above her face, “fuck yes, baby. I love you.”

It took only a minute for them both to get lost in all the tremendous sensations as they let their fingers and mouths find swollen clits and wet entrances and dripping pussy lips. The feel of Ali’s stiff nipples poking into Ashlyn’s lower abdomen gave the keeper a thrill and made her wetter than ever. The blonde was intoxicated by how amazing her wife tasted and smelled and she buried her face in the brunette’s slick folds with a loud moan.

“Oh fuck...” Ali involuntarily stopped what she was doing between her keeper’s legs as she responded to the strong suction all around her own entrance. “Jesus...fuck...yes, babe...”

They moved together, trying to make sure to time their orgasms as closely together as possible. It was so much easier to manage that feat now, after so many years of having sex together. They both knew the other’s body so well. They could tell when a touch or a suck or a thrust or a lick had hit paydirt. The body of the woman they loved told them everything they needed to know about how and where to touch. Of course there were times that were more unpredictable, when either of their bodies responded differently than usual and those moments were always welcome because both women were afraid of their sex life getting static and boring. They were all for trying new things or the same things in different positions, but their body’s response was almost always the same. Ashlyn knew which leg Ali was going to kick out as she came because it was always the one that twitched first during the build-up. Ali always knew when Ashlyn was getting close to her orgasm because, among other things, the keeper’s breathing got an extra hitch in it. It wasn’t an official gasp and it was very subtle. In fact, sometimes it was hard to hear if the brunette was busy with her head between her keeper’s legs, in any other position besides the 69. That night at Stone Manor was different though. There were extra emotions coursing through both women that were impacting everything they did together. It wasn’t bad, it just made things unpredictable. The only drawback that night was that it made it difficult for Ali to try and time her orgasm with her wife’s. Attaining mutual, simultaneous orgasms was Ashlyn’s fervent wish and the brunette really wanted to make it happen for her that night, her special night.

“I’m close...” Ali grunted as she felt her legs start to shake from her wife’s strong fingers pumping inside her and rubbing her aching clit. She knew she would fly over the edge as soon as she relaxed into it and allowed it to happen, or if Ashlyn’s tantalizing kisses on the inside of her thighs kept making her crazy. “Are you?”

The brunette hid her mild frustration well and concentrated hard on her wife’s clit below her. Ashlyn’s body was responding unpredictably, and normally Ali would have been thrilled by it. But not that night. She was trying so hard to give Ashlyn a night worthy of the afternoon and evening she had enjoyed with the grand opening ceremony for the Ashlyn Harris Sports Complex, and part of that was coming at the same time. The brunette couldn’t time her orgasm right if she couldn’t anticipate her wife’s accurately. It was making her tense and Ali was frustrated with herself more than anything else.

“Yeah” Ashlyn husked back in reply. “Close.”

Before she could say another word, Ali felt her wife increase the pace and power of her fingers rubbing on her clit. It felt fucking amazing and the brunette knew she was going to come any second. She tried desperately to get Ashlyn to that point as well.

“Oh God...oh my God...yessss!!!!” Ali shouted as her orgasm exploded throughout her body. 

It took every bit of willpower she had to keep her hands moving inside Ashlyn’s pussy and on Ashlyn’s clit, however weakly and spastically. She tried so hard but the orgasm her keeper had given her was incredible and made it hard to concentrate on anything other than breathing and riding the wave. There was a momentary delay before Ali could make her hands obey her commands again, trying to tend to Ashlyn even as her own body still twitched and shook through the pleasure.

“Yeah baby” Ashlyn moaned approvingly, “come for me baby...just like that...fuck yeah.”

“Ash, I...” she gasped out, chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. “I’m sorry...”

“Shhh...just enjoy it honey” the keeper’s soothing, sexy voice went right to Ali’s clit and made it tingle even more. “I’m not going anywhere” she kissed the brunette’s inner thighs some more and breathed in everything going on right in front of her face. “Fuck...I love this so much...”

After another minute or two of aftershocks, Ali mustered the strength to get her keeper the orgasm she had been seeking too. The brunette got her fingers and mouth back to the delicious places they had just been before her own orgasm interrupted activities. Ashlyn was more than ready for her restart and things ramped right back up in no time.

“Aliiiii!” she yelled while her whole body contracted and shook as she came hard. “Fuck!!”

Ali tried to get up on her hands and knees so her wife could breathe better as she came down. It was hard to fill your lungs up with another human being laying on top of them. But Ashlyn would have none of it.

“Where do you...think you’re...going?” she teased haltingly, gasping for breath with an enormous grin on her face.

“I’m trying not to suffocate you” the brunette chuckled, even as she let her wife pull her back down into place with her strong arms. “Can you breathe?”

“Hell yeah” Ashlyn laughed and wrapped her arms around her wife’s ass and lower back, holding her tightly to her own chest. “I’m good.” She considered for a quick second, “Hell, I’m fucking awesome!”

They both laughed and snuggled in for what Ashlyn hoped, and Ali knew, would be a longer than usual come down period. The brunette still fought through some lingering insecurity about being so open and exposed in her wife’s face like that, but it was Ashlyn’s favorite spot and she would do anything for her keeper that night. Ali had gotten much better about it over the years and was grateful to her wife for helping her in ways she could never fully explain. Ashlyn took her time and enjoyed the sexy view of Ali’s pussy, right there on her chest and in her face. She tenderly licked up the passion that had spilled onto her thighs and gently massaged the gorgeous ass she loved so much. She slowly caressed the sides of her thighs and placed soft kisses to as much skin as she could without tickling the brunette. Ashlyn worshipped her wife in a dozen small ways like that as they lay there together for 15 minutes. Each woman was lost in her own thoughts but still present in the moment and happy to share it with the other. Ali rested her head on her wife’s left thigh, cheek pressing into Poseidon’s nose, and lazily traced the mermaid tail on her other thigh. The one thing this position was not great for was talking. Ali was dying to check in with her wife and see how she felt about the big day, but she was determined to stay in Ashlyn’s spot for as long as the keeper wanted that night. Or until one of them had to pee, whichever came first. The brunette’s determination vanished when she heard sniffles coming from her keeper at about the 16 minute mark.

“Ash, what’s wrong?” Ali’s head snapped up and she frowned when she couldn’t see her wife’s face because her own butt was in the way. “Are you ok honey?” 

She bent her torso to the right in an attempt to see around the rest of her body. She could still feel Ashlyn’s hands moving slowly and softly around her thighs and ass. What the fuck was going on?

“Babe, talk to me, please?” she pleaded, giving the blonde one last chance to share before she got up to investigate herself.

“I’m ok” Ashlyn’s high voice sounded small and fragile, but not too terribly upset.

“You’re crying sweetheart” Ali cooed as she finally got a glimpse of her wife’s red, tear-strewn face. “What’s the matter honey?”

Ashlyn let her hands rest on the bed, silently releasing the brunette from her spot. She sighed and tried to steady her breathing as she watched Ali move nimbly around and reposition herself on her side, next to her. The keeper rolled onto her right side to mirror her position and pulled her wife into a hug, holding her close and letting more tears fall when she felt Ali’s warm arms around her body.

“Are you ok? Is this just some stress release or anxiety or something?” the brunette asked softly, nuzzling her face into her wife’s neck for a kiss and then pulling back to get a look at her again.

“I’m ok” Ashlyn nodded. “I don’t know what the fuck this is” she sniffled again and took a couple of deep breaths. “Maybe stress” she shrugged and blinked away some more tears. “I’m sorry...”

“Shhhh...it’s ok, don’t be sorry” Ali ran her fingers through her wife’s hair, pushing it back away from her face and tucking some of it behind her ear. She leaned in and kissed her keeper’s nose sweetly, then her lips. “You’re talking to the queen of the after-sex criers right here” the brunette joked lightly, not sure if it was too soon or not. “Remember?”

Thankfully, Ashlyn laughed with her, both of them giggling through another hug and some more light, sweet kisses as they held each other loosely.

“If you were done staring at my goodies you could have just told me you know. You didn’t have to wait so long they made you cry” she pushed for another laugh and got an even bigger one from the keeper.

“Oh hell no” Ashlyn’s face broke into a big grin but her eyes were serious. “No way am I falling into that bullshit” she shook her head and wagged a finger in Ali’s face. “My spot had nothing to do with this. My spot is glorious and you will worship it accordingly.”

“Alright, alright” Ali giggled, taking the wagging finger in her hand and kissing it. “Just checking.”

They were quiet for a couple of minutes, deep in thought.

“I think...” Ashlyn started and then stopped, pulling her wife in closer with her legs and intertwining them. She let out a heavy sigh that made Ali nervous. “I think today was a lot and uhh...I guess it just caught up with me” she shrugged again.

“A lot in a good way or a bad way?”

“Good” the keeper nodded thoughtfully. “There’s a lot to take in from today. So many wonderful people. The Krafts...” she got choked up and took a minute to settle herself before continuing. “I kept thinking about what Bob would think of it” she frowned and fought off another wave of tears at the thought of her friend and mentor, Robert Kraft. “You know? Like, would he think we did a good job with all of it? Did we do him proud? Did we honor his name and his legacy?” She paused and took another deep breath. “I just don’t wanna let him down.”

“Oh Ash, I think he’s very happy with the way it turned out” Ali let her fingers find her wife’s cheek and ran the backs of them softly up and down the soft, damp skin in a gentle caress.

“You think so? Really?”

“I really do” Ali felt her heart break a little bit at the questioning look on her wife’s sad face. “He picked you, out of everything he could have done with that money, he picked YOU Ashlyn. He knew you’d do it right, and do it well, and, most importantly, do it your way. My favorite thing about Bob was that he really got you. He loved you honey, the real you. He appreciated how amazing you are, way before a lot of other people did. I hope you did this complex your way, like I think you did, because that’s the only way he would have wanted it.”

They were quiet again for a few minutes, listening to the sexy playlist and trying to fight off exhaustion. It was 11:20pm and they were both losing the battle to stay awake, even though they had the night to themselves and Ali’s final surprise hadn’t even happened yet.

“Come pee with me?” the brunette asked sweetly, not wanting to be apart from her girl just yet. 

Ashlyn smiled and nodded, remembering the octopus mode her wife had started the night in 2-1/2 hours earlier. They made their way to the bathroom, used the toilet and got ready for bed together. Ali made sure they were touching some part of each other’s body the whole time. She finished getting ready first, which was unusual but it was clear to both of them that Ashlyn was really slowing down and losing steam, so she stood behind her keeper and held her, bending forward and back as Ashlyn did washing her face at the sink. 

“Ready for round 2?” Ashlyn wagged her eyebrows as best she could and tried to pull off eager enthusiasm.

“Oh honey, you are the absolute best wife in the world” Ali chuckled and then leaned in for a slow kiss as her keeper turned around to face her. “But I’m wiped out and so are you. Let’s just go to bed babe, ok?”

“Aww...” the keeper whined and pouted, stifling a yawn the whole time. She was grateful Ali called it, even if she didn’t want to say it out loud. “No jammies though, right?”

“Definitely no jammies” Ali nodded as they walked their hug out of the bathroom and back to the bed. “And let’s just see what happens. If we sleep a little bit and wake up ready for more, then that’s what we’ll do, ok?”

“Wait, so if I wake up in two hours and want to have more sex...you’ll be ok with me waking you up?” Ashlyn waited expectantly, wanting to make very sure she understood what her wife was potentially agreeing to.

“That is correct” Ali nodded with a playful roll of her eyes as they got into bed and both reached down to pull the covers back up and over their naked bodies. “This is your night honey. Whatever you want.”

They turned off the music, took their glasses off and curled into each other in the middle of the bed as Ashlyn’s mind raced. Whatever she wanted...that would have been good to know earlier.

“Anything I want?”

“Yes love, anything you want” Ali couldn’t help but smile at the excitement struggling to stay awake in her wife’s tired eyes. “But I need an hour of your time in the morning...”

“For what?”

“It’s a surprise, but you’ll like it” Ali yawned as the keeper turned off the nightstand light and the room went dark. “One hour, after coffee” the brunette clarified. “Check out is at 11am and we’ll need to leave time to shower afterwards...”

“I like the sound of this surprise more and more” Ashlyn giggled and yawned herself. “Hey, thank you for tonight, for all of this” she moved her head around in a lame, tired attempt to nod at the beautiful room in the impossible to book hotel at the end of her big day. “You always make me feel special Al, thank you for that.”

“I love you” Ali blinked back at her as their bodies settled and started to get heavier with sleep. “You should always feel special, because you are. You’re incredible honey, and I love you so much.”

“Love you too” Ashlyn murmured after one last kiss for the night. “See you in a couple of hours...” she quipped but didn’t have the energy to really sell it. They both chuckled and then were fast asleep within 5 minutes.

//

“Mmmmm...coffee...” Ashlyn groaned as she drifted up from sleep at 7:45am.

“Coming right up babe” Ali yawned from her place in front of the coffee maker on top of the small refrigerator. “Did I wake you up? I was trying to be so quiet. I’m sorry.”

“I think the coffee woke me up” Ashlyn yawned and stretched and rolled over to face the half of the room where her wife was standing. “What are you wearing? Why aren’t you naked?”

“It’s cold out here” Ali yawned and then hummed her approval when the coffee machine beeped. “It’s a robe from the bathroom” she moved the full coffee cup off of the machine and put the empty one in its place. As soon as she put a new coffee pod in and pushed the button she carried the first cup over to the big bed and her still-groggy wife. “Here you go.”

“Giving me the first cup of coffee?” Ashlyn chuckled, her raspy morning voice sounded much lower than usual. “What’s the catch?”

“Oh stop” Ali gave her a soft swat on her hip, still comfortably hidden beneath the covers. “If you don’t want it...”

“No, no, I want it” Ashlyn quickly and carefully moved the cup out of her wife’s reach. “Thank you, my darling wife.”

When Ali’s cup was ready she brought it back to bed and climbed back under the covers, dropping the robe and honoring the naked rule they had both agreed to the night before. The two women sat there, propped up against the headboard with the covers pulled up high, quietly drinking their caffeine. They were both tired. Really tired. Ashlyn had woken up just before 4am and coaxed her wife into Round 2. It hadn’t taken a lot of persuading though. Ali was a good sport about it and, after a little bit of time to wake back up, became a very willing participant. The sex was faster and sleepier but they each had another big orgasm before going back to sleep very satisfied. The brunette had set an alarm for herself for 8am so there would be time for her surprise, a shower, and checkout. But she found herself wide awake at 7:15am and unable to fall back asleep. After 30 minutes of trying, she finally got up to make herself some coffee and start her day.

“So when can I have my surprise?” Ashlyn asked on her way back from the bathroom at 8:15am.

Both women had finished their coffee, brushed their teeth and used the bathroom by that point. Ali was sitting back in the big comfy bed texting and checking social media.

“We should do it now, for sure” Ali nodded as she took in the time. 

“So my hour starts...” Ashlyn jokingly started to set an alarm on her own phone.

“No, silly” Ali laughed and rolled her eyes. “There’s no time limit on it, other than we need to shower and get checked out” she clarified. “We can do it from now until we shower, if you want.”

“Ok, the suspense is killing me” Ashlyn stood anxiously next to the bed, arms across her chest for warmth.

The room wasn’t cold, but it was cooler than both the bed and the bathroom so it felt cold on their naked skin.

“Put your robe on and go out on the balcony for a few minutes” Ali proposed as she got up out of bed and moved towards the suitcase she had packed for them.

“Outside?!” Ashlyn’s jaw dropped at the suggestion. “It’s cold out there.”

The mornings in May in New England were usually not warm. Ali couldn’t blame her Florida girl wife this time. She had a point. 

“Fine, then go wait in the bathroom until I tell you to come out” the brunette smacked her wife’s butt as she made her way towards the bathroom, grabbing her phone from the nightstand on her way.

It only took 10 minutes for Ali to get things set up, but it felt like a lot longer to the impatient woman in the bathroom.

“Come on Al” she whined. “It’s gonna be 10am before we even get started!”

“Oh quit complaining, would ya?” Ali giggled when everything was ready. “You can come out now.”

Ashlyn came out of the bathroom and walked towards the big bed, trying to understand what she was seeing there. The covers were pushed back down to the foot of the bed again and there was an extra, decorative sheet on the mattress, covering the fitted sheet already there. Ali sat at the head of the bed, running her hands through her shoulder length hair and trying to detangle a few knots in it before her keeper officially joined the activity.

“What’s this?” Ashlyn cocked her head, perplexed by the extra sheet with sharks all over it and not really seeing anything else just yet. “Why is Drew’s old sheet here?”

“You don’t have any ideas?” Ali teased lightly, looking sideways towards the nightstand with a pleased smirk on her face.

“Umm no” Ashlyn made a distasteful face. “And the idea of having sex on our kid’s sheets? I don’t think so Al...”

“What? Oh, God no” Ali made an eek face as she realized how things looked from Ashlyn’s perspective. “Gross” she shook her head hoping to get the disturbing images out of it. “Ok, so I’m just gonna tell you.”

“Thank God.”

“This old sheet is here because I don’t need everybody knowing our business, especially not Gina and Chaz Phillips” Ali rolled her eyes. “This is just so we don’t ruin the hotel’s sheets. What you should be looking at is what’s on the nightstand.”

“Oh! The body paint!” Ashlyn’s eyes flicked to the 4 small jars on the nightstand and her whole body changed as excited energy flowed through it. “This is so cool!”

The sad truth was that they hadn’t been able to try the body paint yet and it had been 4-1/2 months since Ali had given it to Ashlyn for Christmas. It was an activity that needed time and privacy and clean up, and there just hadn’t been an opportunity for that yet. The couple of times they had found some time and privacy at the big old house, they had explored Ali’s Japanese binding wraps instead. The brunette was determined to get the body paint involved before their busy summer schedules made it even less likely to happen.

“Yeah, you want to try it?”

“Hell yes I wanna try it” the keeper enthused as she quickly picked up the paintbrush and started to move back towards the bathroom.

“It’s already been cleaned, twice” Ali chuckled when she saw the confusion on her wife’s face. “I’ve been trying to do this for you all damned year. Nothing needs to be done except you need to tell me where you want me and then get over here.”

Ashlyn’s face broke into a loving smile as she cocked her head to the side a bit. Knowing that her sweet wife had been trying to arrange time for them to play with her new body paint almost meant more to her than actually using the Christmas gift. Almost.

“I can’t decide what to do” she finally admitted with a sigh after standing and contemplating her beautiful brunette on the big hotel bed for a full minute.

“Well, pick one or we’re gonna run out of time” Ali encouraged with a giggle. “I wanted to do this last night but...”

“There wasn’t time” Ashlyn blinked softly back at her with a small nod. “Last night was amazing, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“Yeah?” the brunette questioned shyly, looking for some reassurance.

“Not a thing” the keeper smiled and leaned onto the bed to kiss Ali’s lips. “I didn’t realize it until later, but I had a lot going on last night...” she ducked her head for just a couple of seconds before looking into the adoring cinnamon eyes that always lifted her spirits and filled her heart. “Thanks for letting me get it out and loving me anyway.”

“Aw, honey...” they embraced for a long minute before Ashlyn’s excitement about the body paint captured her attention again.

“Ok,” she pulled back and cleared her throat as Ali sat back on the bed again. “As much as I love your back...”

“That means my ass” Ali nodded and gave her wife a knowing smirk. 

Ashlyn chose to keep going and let the zinger go by unchallenged. The idea of sitting on her wife’s gorgeous butt for an hour while she painted her beautiful back had taken some fierce concentration to shake out of her head. But the keeper had done it.

“Ahem, I’d love to paint your front instead” she leaned over and patted the middle of the shark sheet with an enormous grin on her face and a twinkle in her eye. “Let’s go sweet cheeks.”

“Yay!” Ali giggled as she got into place as instructed, so her entire upper body, from her thighs to the top of her head, was on the shark sheet. They repositioned the sheet so Ali’s body was close to the side of the bed – that way Ashlyn could reach the jars of paint on the nightstand she pulled away from the wall and moved towards the middle of the bed. “I was hoping you’d pick that.”

“Oh yeah, why?” the keeper asked as she got onto the bed herself, kneeling and waiting for the brunette to get in place.

“Because now I can watch you.”

There was some passion behind Ali’s words, but it hadn’t been intended as a sexy line. Ashlyn knew her wife meant it sweetly and sincerely. The brunette had always loved the creative side of her keeper, and loved watching her work on whatever she was doing – painting, sketching, sculpting, whatever. The appreciation and devotion Ali showed her wife’s artistic endeavors had always moved Ashlyn deeply. This moment, getting ready to explore something new for them both, was no different. Ashlyn felt a surge of love for her wife as she stared down at her beautiful body and her adoring face. The keeper paused, trying to handle the strong emotion filling her chest and then spoke in slightly choked words.

“You’re so fucking incredible, you know that Al?”

The powerful emotions that had started their night at the Stone Manor swirled softly between the two women again that morning. They were still strong but tempered by the sleepy love hangover they were both dealing with. Ali met her wife’s loving gaze and blinked sweetly back in reply. After another few seconds she added words to the quiet, meaningful exchange.

“I love you too babe” the brunette smiled softly up at her wife and reached for her. “Now, come paint me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Bob Kraft.... I'm choosing to pretend the whole prostitution thing didn't happen, at least for the purposes of this story. In this story he spent his later years doing charitable works and trying to carry out the good work his late wife Myra would have wanted him to.  
> And, while rich white men don't need or deserve any sympathy, I do feel a little bad for Bob. His wife Myra, the love of his life, has been gone for 8 years now. Everybody knows who Bob Kraft is and how much he's worth so I imagine dating is....tricky. I am in no way condoning or excusing his behavior. I'm just saying that if paying for sex, instead of hoping to find somebody who wasn't just trying to get his money, was his best option then I kinda feel bad for him. I'm aware this is probably a bad take, but it's how I feel about it. I can be soft sometimes.   
>  Anyway, I'm still not writing about it in this story.


	29. Krieger Pride

June was LGBTQ+ Pride month in Boston and in Massachusetts, just as it was most other places in the United States. LGBTQ+ rights had made a comeback after the dark days before President Elizabeth Warren was elected to guide the US back onto a path towards civility and democracy and human rights in all forms. Gay rights and visibility had taken a devastating hit back in 2016 – 2020 and it took almost a decade to catch back up. Now, in 2033, it was more acceptable than ever to live your life as a non-heterosexual in the US. It still wasn’t always easy – there were still enough uneducated, homophobic bigots around to keep gay folks on their toes in most places – but it was as good as it had ever been and that was a welcome situation for anybody who was LGBTQ+ and anyone who loved someone in that community. 

Ali and Ashlyn had always been open and honest and out about their sexual identities and their relationship since they had first gotten together back in 2016. Boston and Cambridge, and much of Massachusetts, had always been very progressive in terms of Gay rights and equality. Massachusetts was the first state to legalize Gay Marriage back in 2004 and had never looked back. Even when federal government took steps backwards during that regressive time after the 2016 election, the Governor and Mayor of Boston stepped up and did the right thing to protect their citizens’ rights. The Kriegers had enjoyed many a gay pride parade in the city of Boston over the years, but hadn’t been able to attend as many as they would have liked in recent years. Ali and Ashlyn had taken the kids when they were little and there were dozens of adorable pictures of Drew, Josie, Dodge, and Lily decked out in rainbows and waving gay pride flags. Once the kids got older and had more sports and activities to attend on the weekends it became more of a challenge to get to the parade. 

The parade was usually held the first Saturday in June, but sometimes, depending on a number of different things, it ended up being held on the second Saturday in June. That was the key. The youth and school sports were still in action that first weekend in June but it was the last weekend of the school year for any games or sports activities. The second weekend of June never had to worry about conflicts with baseball or softball. The school concert was held on an evening during the week, usually the third and final week of school in June, so it never got in the way of the Pride parade either. 

“We’re going this year” Ashlyn stated definitively, back on Sunday May 29th as they celebrated Memorial Day weekend with the four families at the big old house.

“We are?” Ali lifted her eyebrows at the undiscussed news.

“Rut-roh Reorge” Niki teased the keeper and made everybody laugh at her Scooby-doo impersonation as they hung out on Good Harbor Beach that holiday afternoon.

All four families had come up to Gloucester for the day and most of them, kids included, were spending it on the beach. They had a couple of big coolers set up in the middle of a circle of beach chairs where the grown-ups were sitting. Ashlyn had set up their beach tent so Whitney and Ryan could let Tommy rest there in the shade when he got tired. Some of the kids were playing in the ocean with Dom and Ryan and Molly, and others were playing in the sand just a few feet from the circle of chairs. A few kids were laying on the beach blanket like they had seen their parents do all their lives. That never lasted too long though. They got bored way too fast. The four families had all just seen each other for the Ashlyn Harris Sports Complex ceremony the weekend before but this was better – much more relaxed. This was easy and fun for everybody, including Ashlyn who didn’t have to be nervous or give speeches or remember important people’s names. There was no drinking on the beach, but if you were discreet about opening your beer and pouring it into a plastic cup, nobody was going to bother you. 

Drew had celebrated his 14th birthday on Friday the 27th with a trip, along with 9 of his closest friends, to the NE Revs game that night. The 8th graders enjoyed all the frills of one of the special VIP suites at the stadium, which had been renamed ‘Kraft Stadium’ in honor of Robert Kraft, with top-notch VIP service and amenities. The birthday afternoon and evening included a stadium tour, including the locker rooms, and some time on the pitch with some of the players before the game too. And Niki Cross’ 48th birthday was the next day, on Monday May 30th. She and Molly were taking the kids down to Rhode Island for a huge family party for the day but were very happy to be relaxing up in Gloucester that Sunday.

“I mean, I’m all for it, but how do you plan on making that happen, exactly?” Ali laughed. “Good luck with that.” 

Having teenagers meant planning family activities had become a tiresome challenge. Everyone but the Flanagans had started having to deal with it already and the group groaned collectively at Ali’s painfully accurate sentiment.

“We’re lucky if Noah even tells us what his plans are” Niki shook her head. Noah Cross was a 17-1/2 year old junior in high school. “We have better luck finding him if Molly texts his girlfriend.”

“Oh the girlfriend!” Sydney cackled. “My God I can barely stand it” she clucked, still upset about a recent confrontation with 15-1/2 year old high school freshman Cassius. “Thinks he’s something special now that he has a real girlfriend” she huffed. “I’ll show him just how special he is...special my ass.”

Everybody laughed but the truth was they were all still freaked out about the incident at Fenway Park in April. It had only been 6 weeks since Cassius’ altercation with the drunk that had almost ended much worse for the boy than some scrapes and two broken ribs. 

“Just be careful of his ribs. Do what you need to do” Whitney deadpanned, her serious face selling the joke perfectly. “Just let the boy have his ribs back. Please.”

The group laughed again, heartily and sincerely. The Dwyers had been rocked to their core by the incident at Fenway but it had not broken them. Not yet anyway. The four families had followed suit. They were all shaken but if Sydney and Dom and Cassius could move through it and past it, then they would have to learn to do the same. Ali was always the one who laughed the least at moments like this one on the beach. She appreciated the joke and she loved Whitney for telling it because that laughter was what helped them all get through it. But something had broken in the brunette that April day at the baseball game. She wasn’t even sure exactly what it was, but she felt differently about many things. She was angry about a lot of things she had been forced to think about as a result of that day at Fenway, and she didn’t see that changing anytime soon.

Ali was the one Sydney called in tears, upset because her first-born child was having nightmares at the age of 15-1/2. Cassius didn’t sleep a full night for almost a month after his encounter with the mean drunk, the indifferent strangers, and the trigger-happy cop at Fenway Park. Ali was the one that checked in on Cassius and both his parents every day, hoping to hear good news about how they were coping with the trauma from that day. Ali was the one who couldn’t get the sensory memories out of her head – the smell of the big man’s body odor, the smell of urine that she thought might have come from Cassius but really didn’t want to know for sure, the smell of beer and popcorn and grilled sausages – all the familiar aromas that she used to love about going to a Red Sox game. The sounds of Drew’s plaintive voice, and her own desperate words, echoed in Ali’s head all these weeks later, still. Of course Sydney and Dom were dealing with a lot of things stemming from that fateful day at the ballpark – like lawyers and mediators and ‘pain and suffering’ settlements – but Ali had been the one who was there when it happened. She had been the one in the middle of it all and she was still tender from it. You wouldn’t know it to look at her, unless you were one of her nearest and dearest confidants, because the brunette had always been excellent at presenting a calm, cool, collected outer appearance. It went all the way back to her days in sales. 

Drew too had been traumatized by what he had been forced to confront that day, much like his mother. The two visits he had made to the child psychologist, Dr. Murphy, had done wonders for him and both Ashlyn and Ali were grateful he already had a support system like that in place. They never thought they would be thankful for his stomach issues and their underlying causes but if not for those earlier troubles Drew wouldn’t have Dr. Murphy to turn to now. Both moms encouraged Sydney and Dom to make sure Cassius went and talked to a therapist too, but it wasn’t an easy sell. Sydney had never said a disparaging thing about therapists in her life, but she had also never been a big fan of the concept either. She knew how much Ashlyn and Ali had both benefitted from their work with therapists over the years but it just didn’t feel like something the coach could do. It didn’t feel right to Sydney and she was smart enough to know that if she wasn’t open to it in the first place then it would never work. Sydney had gone to one therapy appointment after she lost her baby and it had not gone well. It had been an uphill battle to get her to change her opinion of the practice ever since.

But, in light of the seriousness of the Fenway incident, Dom pushed his wife to join he and Cassius at a therapy session. The Revs and Breakers medical-wellness team had embraced the notion of mental readiness and meditation and other practices that could help the players perform better and stay healthier physically. There was a top-notch mental health team that Dom had seen in action with several players over the past several years and he wanted to bring Cassius in for help. With more urging from both Ali and Sandi Leroux, Sydney finally agreed to go with her husband and son. She didn’t share very much with the therapist, but she didn’t leave. She didn’t make anybody else feel like it was a waste of time either. And, most importantly, she had agreed to go back with Dom and Cassius two weeks later. They had been to three appointments so far and all three Dwyers were feeling stronger and handling their new reality better. 

Cassius had initially been derided and ostracized at school because the truth hadn’t been widely told yet. There were plenty of videos for everybody to look at and draw their own conclusions from, which they had all of school vacation week to do. And it seemed like everybody had seen at least one of the videos out there. But it hadn’t been until the end of the first week of school after vacation that the Red Sox had come out and made an official statement about the incident. After they apologized to the Dwyer family, and Cassius specifically, and admonished the big drunk guy – the jackass earned himself a lifetime ban from Fenway Park, things had gotten better at school for Cassius. The Red Sox and all of the major sports teams in the Boston area had released videos about acceptable fan behavior in the past, but the PR spots that made the rounds after Cassius’ altercation this time were so heavy-handed and blunt that not even the most obtuse fan or citizen could miss the message. The teams didn’t shy away from the racial discrimination aspect of the incident and made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that if a fan couldn’t co-exist with other fans of different races, religions, sexualities, or genders, then that fan was not allowed inside Fenway Park and TD Bank Boston Garden, and Gillette Stadium, and Kraft Stadium and all the other venues that the teams played in.

After the second week back to school Cassius was regarded almost as a hero. That messed with his head a little bit too, honestly. He was a high school freshman just trying to get through the second half of the school year and all of a sudden he was as well-known as the popular seniors. But for very different reasons. With that fame came his first real girlfriend. Both Sydney and Dom were pretty sure she was just trying to take advantage of his newfound popularity but it proved to be a challenging message to get through to their hormonal son. Only time would tell for sure, but both parents were fairly certain he was going to get his heart broken, to go along with the ribs that had made him fleetingly famous.

The silver lining to the story was the money. The owners of the Red Sox had agreed to settle with the Dwyers out of court and the two sides were still working out the details of exactly how much money the Dwyers were going to be receiving. It was going to be a one-time settlement payment that they would put directly into the college fund account for the boys that they had been working hard to try and fill for so long. Paying for three sons to go to college had been something that stressed both Sydney and Dom out for 15-1/2 years now. They both worked hard but didn’t get paid a lot of money. Dom was making more now that he was the director of the medical training staff for the Revs and the Breakers, but it still wasn’t a ton of money. They were a middle-class family and Ali often talked to Ashlyn about how Sydney and Dom were exactly like her own parents had been when she and Kyle were growing up. 

Ken Krieger hadn’t been an athletic trainer but as a former pro soccer player he received an above-average salary for coaching and teaching at the high school. Sydney and Dom were giving their kids the same things that Deb and Ken Krieger had – which made them not rich but not poor either. They couldn’t live extravagantly but they didn’t go without much either. They had to save their money to afford one family vacation a year. The settlement money would be enough so they didn’t have to worry about paying for those colleges and maybe provide just a little extra so Sydney and Dom could pay off the house and start saving more of their own money every month instead of paying the mortgage. 

“Is it just Drew you think won’t wanna go to the parade? Or is Josie starting her rebellious stage early too?” Niki asked after the laughter died down. She could see it was important to Ashlyn but she wasn’t sure why.

“Just him” the keeper sighed. “Josie and Lily love it. Dodge does too as long as he doesn’t have to stand too still for too long” she smiled. “Sometimes if Meg tells them she’s coming, that makes it easier for Drew to say yes.”

“Of course” Syd chimed in. “Having the big sister do it means he can’t say he’s too old for it.”

“Is Meg going to the parade though?” Ali asked.

“She’s not sure yet” Ashlyn shrugged. “Something about a graduation party for Kimmy’s brother” she referenced one of Meg’s BC teammates. “I don’t know.”

“Well we’re going” Niki announced. “If that helps.”

“Cool. Yeah it does” the keeper grinned. “Plus more fun for me.”

“Is Noah going though?” Ali quirked an eyebrow.

“Umm no. At least not to the best of my psychic abilities” Niki chuckled. “So maybe not so helpful after all.”

“Can we come?” Whitney asked with a heartfelt smile. “Tommy loves parades and I can’t think of a better one to celebrate.” 

“What if we all go? We haven’t done that in years” Sydney proposed. “I mean all four of our families, together. What do you think Al?”

“I think that sounds awesome” the brunette beamed.

“Yes!” Ashlyn fist-pumped and winked at her wife. “Told you, we’re going!”

Saturday, June 11th arrived 2 weeks later and the four families assembled at the Knight-Harris office in Cambridge to take the subway across the Charles River and into Boston. Attendance among the four families was higher than any of them expected. Meg and Charlie met them at the family-friendly lesbian-owned bar that Ashlyn and Molly Cross had arranged to spend most of the parade at. As they had gotten older and started having little kids, the Kriegers and Crosses stopped going to the LGBTQ+ bars where all the young, hip, horny gays hung out. It just wasn’t a good fit. The kids were traumatized by some of what they saw and the other gays didn’t really feel comfortable doing their wild and crazy Pride bar-hopping thing with kids there. Eventually, a couple of straight restaurants along the parade route figured out how to capitalize on the day’s crowds. There wasn’t anything nefarious about it. They were eating and drinking establishments that realized if they opened early and catered to a specific crowd on a certain day they could make a lot of money. More power to them. 

But Ashlyn and Ali always tried to support LGBTQ+ businesses whenever possible. And there was no way they were giving their money to straight folks for the Pride parade. That just wasn’t gonna happen. The best solution so far had been a kind of a dive bar near the outskirts of the South End that had been bought and converted into a respectable bar that served good bar food, but not a full-on restaurant. Two lesbians in their early 50s were the owners and one of them was always onsite, often times with their middle-school aged kids. ‘Maggie’s Family Bar’ was exactly what the name implied and it became very popular with people just like Ashlyn and Ali. It was a place they could go and have a drink or a beer with their kids in tow and not feel like any of them were doing anything wrong. 

The whole back half of the bar consisted of two rooms for kids. One room had some easy to clean couches and bean bags where the kids could read or play board games or cards or even do their homework in the case of the owners’ kids who spent many school afternoons there when they were younger. The other kid room had a small ice hockey foosball game, complete with the clear plastic bubble over it, and a small soccer foosball table, along with louder table games like Jenga. The music that played in the bar and both rooms was good, popular music but it had been cultivated to make sure there wasn’t anything unsuitable for kids’ ears. There were also kid-friendly drinks and snacks and bathrooms that had what kids needed too, like stepstools so they could wash their hands at the sink.

If you didn’t want to use a bathroom that was well-lit and painted in friendly colors that made kids feel welcome in them too, then Maggie’s wasn’t the place for you. The problem was that Maggie’s didn’t get a lot of business from the demographic that was responsible for the vast majority of bar spending in the US – the young, hip, single crowd. They found ways to creatively market their nighttime offerings. They hosted mixers and parties and endeared themselves to many women’s sports fans by airing as many different women’s games as they could. Maggie’s may not have been getting a lot of young, hip singles every night but they made up for it with young, hip lesbians who may or may not be single but wanted to hang out in a welcoming space to watch the big Boston Beacons playoff game – for example. Maggie’s did ok, especially when older LGBTQ+ couples came in just to spend their money on a business model that they wished had been around when they were younger.

The Krieger kids loved going to Maggie’s and it had been part of the appeal that had convinced Drew to join the family this year. It was a bar and a ‘grown up’ space even if it was kid-friendly. The kids could tell the difference and appreciated it. None of their friends with straight parents ever took them to a bar. Noah Cross did make it to the parade but it turned out that it was mainly because his girlfriend thought it was a cool thing to do. Whatever. Niki and Molly were just happy to have them there. It was the first time all 13 of the four family kids had made it to the same event in years. The parents scrambled to make sure the near-miracle was captured on film as soon as everyone got to Maggie’s – they weren’t taking any chances on missing the photo op because they never knew how long the oldest kids were going to stick around.

One of the reasons Ashlyn was so hell-bent on getting her family to the Pride parade this year was for Drew. He hadn’t made any other statements about his sexuality to his parents, or to his child psychologist for that matter. He was just about to finish 8th grade and mutually break up with his 3rd girlfriend, Shawna. He was still best friends with Ethan Machado and spent a lot of time at his house with Sam and Lisa. To both Ali and Ashlyn’s consternation, Drew seemed to gravitate to Sam Machado as the father figure in his life. It was only natural and they both understood why their son felt comfortable talking to his best friend’s dad about guy things. They just didn’t love it. They had always hoped, and tried to cultivate relationships so it could happen, that Drew would look to Ryan or Dom or Koty for that kind of guidance and support. But, when Ali and Ashlyn talked about it they agreed, all that mattered was that Drew had somebody who could and would answer his questions about girls and his changing body and sex. Sam had crossed a line with Ali and Ashlyn that could never be un-crossed and they would never have the close friendship they had once shared with him ever again. But he was a good dad. Even Ashlyn on her worst day would admit that. 

But both moms were afraid that Drew was struggling with his sexuality and they wanted to do everything in their power to reinforce the ideas they had been preaching to all of their kids for their entire lives. It didn’t matter who you loved. Being gay or straight or bi didn’t matter one bit and they would love their kids no matter how they identified. Ali in particular was anxious about her son. She was terrified that he would go down the same road that Kyle Krieger had and end up with the same demons and vices that had nearly cost her brother his life. That was just not going to happen on her watch. If she ended up pissing Drew off so much by talking about being gay that he cut her out of his life, that would be ok. As long as he didn’t suffer the self-doubt and self-loathing that destroyed so many young LGBTQ+ people. Ali would do anything to keep that from happening. She wasn’t sure forcing Drew to go to the Pride parade with the rest of the family was the right thing to do, but what could it hurt? 

The biggest surprise of all, even bigger than Noah Cross showing up, was when they found Ken Krieger waiting for them in the K-H parking lot. Ashlyn’s jaw hit the ground and Ali had to fight back tears. Ken Krieger loved his kids and his grandkids and supported them in all of their endeavors. He was one of the best, most present and participatory grandfathers anyone had ever seen. He was quiet and reserved most of the time but that was simply his personality. He had always been the soft-spoken father and grandfather and nobody judged him for it. The grandkids knew that a smile or a hug from Grandpa was better than any compliment they might get somewhere else. They loved him, adored him even – unless he was lowering the boom on bad behavior while babysitting. Then he was serious and intimidating and they knew not to mess with him.

“I hope it’s ok” he spoke steadily as he hugged his daughter hello in the parking lot after greeting his grandkids and daughter-in-law first. Ashlyn and the kids were already ambling towards the building because Lily had to pee. He made the next statement as plainly as he could, not wanting to hurt any feelings or start a guilt trip. “I didn’t get an invitation...”

“Oh Dad...” Ali felt the guilt regardless. It weighed heavy on her heart. “There wasn’t a ton of planning for this one. Ash kind of decided it and she and Molly ran with it and...well, here we are” she tried to explain. “I just didn’t think you’d want to come I guess” she confessed. “It’s not that we don’t want you here.”

“Are you sure?” the doubt on his face broke her heart. “I’ll be ok either way but I don’t want to ruin it or anything.”

“Dad...” she hugged him again, tighter this time. “I’m so glad you’re here. Best surprise ever” she spoke emotionally over his shoulder from inside the hug.

“Ok Princess” he patted her and they pulled apart, both smiling. “Good.”

After riding the subway into Boston and getting settled at Maggie’s Family Bar, Ali had figured out her father’s motive.

“He’s here for Drew” the brunette nodded at her dad laughing with Drew and Charlie at one end of the cornhole game that had been set up outside on the sidewalk.

“What do you mean?” Sydney furrowed her brow as she observed the man who had been like a father to her as well. “Does he know?”

“I didn’t think he did, but he must” Ali replied, referring to the relative secret she and Ashlyn had been keeping about Drew’s still-to-be-determined sexuality. “I’ll bet it was Kyle. I’m gonna kill him.”

“Hold up now. Maybe this is really good for him” the coach suggested as both women studied the interaction. “He’s the straightest guy we know. Maybe if Drew feels like Grandpa will love him no matter what, maybe that’ll help him.”

Ali flashed back to the parking lot at K-H an hour before. It had been a seemingly tiny moment like so many others in their lives as Ken hugged and kissed all four Krieger grandchildren hello.

“Grandpa, why are you wearing that?” Drew asked with disdain, the way only a teenager could. “You look so dumb.”

The comment had been delivered with a loving smile on Drew’s face which made it sound less awful. Drew loved his Grandpa and was genuinely happy to see him. But he still thought he looked dumb. Ken wore a t-shirt, which was very typical for him, but instead of a sports logo in the middle of it there was a rainbow flag and the word ‘EQUALITY’ underneath it. Otherwise, he looked the same as he always did. Ali had opened her mouth to chastise her rude son but closed it again when she saw that her father had the situation well in hand. 

“Seems to me you’re the only one not wearing a rainbow today my boy. I think you’re the one who looks dumb.”

It had been completely non-confrontational, and Ken put his hand out for their typical fistbump combination handshake that he and Drew always did, and that had been that. But the message had been delivered.

“Maybe you’re right Syd” Ali agreed as she continued to watch her father and her son.

“I mean, I’ve heard him say he’d go back and do anything he could to help Kyle” Sydney put her arm around Ali’s waist as they stood side by side watching and wondering. “He said he’d do so many things differently. Maybe that’s what he’s doing with Drew now.” 

Ali thought about the straight men in their lives and knew that they would all support Drew no matter who he ended up dating. Even Sam Machado had always been open and progressive about most things, sexuality included. But the more the brunette thought about it, the more she realized that Ken’s opinion probably mattered to Drew the most. Ken was the family patriarch. Ken was the soccer expert. Ken was the Grandpa the kids saw the most of and it had always been that way. Ken was an interesting mixture of soft and cuddly Grandpa with tough as nails and demanding coach. If there was a more masculine guy in the family, Ali couldn’t think of one. If Drew could see that his Grandpa, big tough former-athlete and sometimes intimidating as hell Ken Krieger, supported the LGBTQ+ community...maybe that might make all the difference in his young world.

“It wasn’t me! Stop yelling at me!” Kyle pulled his phone away from his ear later that evening, still able to hear his sister’s agitated voice from a foot away. When it sounded safe again, he gingerly held the phone against his ear and spoke tentatively. “Hello?”

“I’m still here you jerk” Ali huffed but then chuckled and sighed. “I don’t suppose you heard any of that, did you?”

“Not so much, no” Kyle chuckled with her. “I’ll talk but I’m not here for the yelling...”

“It’s ok if it was you BB. I’m mad you didn’t tell me about getting Dad involved. That’s all. I think it’s a great idea, for the record. I wish I’d thought of it.”

“Me too” he laughed. “I swear to you Alex, I didn’t tell Dad a thing about Drew.”

“You didn’t? Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I was terrified of letting him down when I was Drew’s age. Dad’s not the first person I’d recommend to help your gay son figure his shit out.”

“We don’t know that yet” Ali replied the way she always did when one of her closest people referred to Drew as gay. She wasn’t against him being gay but she also didn’t want to label him something he wasn’t comfortable with yet either.

“You can cling to your denial as long as you like” he giggled. “But, for the record, I’m glad Dad’s stepping up. Maybe he can’t help Drew figure out that he’s gay, but he can make him feel like it’s an ok option. That’s awesome.”

It didn’t take too much more investigative work to figure out who had told Ken about the Pride parade. 

“It has to be my mom. She was gonna come with us before she decided to go on that bus trip to Maine with Tammye and Carol” Ali reasoned out loud the day after the parade as she and Ashlyn were getting into bed. “It had to be her.”

And the confirmation came two days after that. Deb didn’t even try to deny it.

“Yes I told your father about the parade” she nodded as she stirred some sugar into the pitcher of iced tea she had just made in the kitchen of the big old house late that Tuesday afternoon. Ali had just come home from work and hadn’t even changed clothes yet. “Was I not supposed to?”

“Mom...” Ali’s shoulders slumped and she rubbed her forehead with one hand. She knew the game her mother was playing and she didn’t care for it. “Telling Dad about the parade isn’t the same as...” she looked around and lowered her voice so none of Drew’s siblings had a chance of hearing their conversation, “...telling him about Drew but...”

“The kids aren’t here. Drew’s at Ethan’s. Josie & Lily are at play rehearsal until 6 and Ash took Dodge up to his drum lesson. So no need to whisper” she couldn’t help but grin. And that little grin pissed Ali off.

“I’m glad you think this is funny because I don’t!” she fumed, banging her hand down on the counter next to her. “I trusted you mom. I confided in you about Drew and I asked you not to tell anybody. And what did you do? You fucking told EVERYBODY!”

“Watch your mouth” Deb gave Ali the look that Ali had perfected and used frequently on her own children. The look said ‘try that again at your own peril’. 

There was an uneasy silence as Deb crossed the kitchen to get two glasses for the iced tea, returning to the counter where the pitcher and her pissed off daughter waited. Deb could practically see the smoke coming out of Ali’s ears and regretted upsetting her.

“I only told your father” she admitted as she poured the iced tea.

“And Tammye and Carol” Ali added pointedly. After Deb nodded guiltily Ali decided to test a hunch and go fishing while she was at it. “And Sandi.”

“Ok, so I told four people, five if you count Mike. That’s hardly everybody.”

“Mom! Jesus...why is it so hard for people to understand that I want to respect my son’s privacy?! If this was Kyle would you want Grandma telling people about it?”

Deb took her glass and sat at the small two-person kitchen table with a heavy sigh.

“Alex, I’m sorry” she spoke sincerely. “I understand what you’re saying. Drew should be able to figure this out on his own without a bunch of people watching him do it. I get it honey” she gave her daughter, still standing by the counter with anger and frustration in her eyes, a small smile. “But if he is gay and he is having a hard time...I won’t just sit here and let that happen. I won’t do it.”

“And that’s why you told Dad. So he could try and help Drew like he wished he had helped Kyle” the brunette frowned. “That’s what this is about, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s about Drew. But yes, I’ll be honest...” Deb sighed again and chewed on her lip during the brief pause. “Both your father and I...have regrets. I’ll always wonder if I had been more open and direct with your brother instead of waiting for him to come and tell me he was gay...maybe, just maybe, things would have been better for him.”

“You dragged him out anyway” Ali chuckled, her mood changing slightly. She was still fuming but couldn’t resist reacting to one of her favorite stories. “He never did come out to you until you flat-out told him you already knew.”

“No, you’re right” Deb smiled at the memory of finally talking with Kyle when he was in high school about his sexuality. “But the point is, if I had made him feel more ok about it when he was younger...”

“Mom, don’t do that, please” Ali carried her iced tea to the table and sat down across from her mother. She reached over and took Deb’s hand. “Kyle made his own choices. I made my own choices. You’re not responsible for them, good or bad. I know you know that.”

“How would you feel if Kyle had been Drew? How would you feel in my shoes?”

Ali was trying to make her mother feel better but she knew in her heart that she would feel guilty for the rest of her life if she were in Deb’s shoes. The brunette honestly didn’t think Deb had done anything wrong. But, as a mother, looking at the situation and having her own son in Kyle’s place, Ali knew she would never forgive herself for not doing better. And just like that, as if someone had thrown a light switch, the brunette understood. She knew what Deb was trying to do now, in the present, to help Drew. And if Deb needed to piss Ali off and tell five people that she thought could help her give Drew a better chance of coming to terms with his sexuality, then Goddammit that’s what Deb was going to do. It was exactly the same as the brunette being willing to piss Drew off herself if that’s what it took to make sure he understood that being gay was ok. As Ali had her epiphany, she took a drink of iced tea and tried to collect her thoughts. Deb quietly sipped her tea too, still holding onto her daughter’s hand across the small table. After a couple of minutes Ali finally spoke after clearing her voice.

“I think Dad did a great job on Saturday” she reported with a nod. She spent a few minutes telling her mother about Drew’s harsh greeting and the way Ken had handled it, along with a couple of other stories of their interactions from the day. “I’m mad I didn’t think of it myself” she gave her mother a small smile. “I think he can make a big difference and really help Drew.”

“I do too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the unannounced hiatus. My bad. I'm away for the weekend and I got crushed with stuff at work before I left so I couldn't even post the last couple of nights before I left! So sorry my friends.  
> This week will be similar so I'll post every other night again. Thanks for your patience. <3


	30. Girl Gang

The rest of June flew by with Kyle’s 50th birthday on the 17th, Josie’s 12th birthday on the 19th, the last day of school on the 22nd, the beginning of The Academy on Sunday the 26th, and Tommy Flanagan’s 6th birthday on the 29th. Kyle and Nathan were going on their first big solo vacation ever, in conjunction with Kyle’s big milestone birthday. It was a 12-day trip to Iceland and they had been planning it forever. They were leaving on the 25th of June and returning the 6th of July. Ali and Ashlyn and Deb were going to babysit the kids while they were gone, which was going to be just like any other July 4th vacation for the NYC Krieger family, except without Kyle or Nathan around. 

Edgar was a year younger than Drew and Cristina was a year younger than Josie so they fit right in with the Gloucester Krieger brood and everybody was very comfortable with their cousins and aunts and uncles. Cristina had grown especially close to Ashlyn over the past year and had begun calling her Auntie on the phone to talk a few times a week. It was adorable. It made Ali a little bit jealous but she knew she had a good relationship with her niece too. What struck the brunette the most about the cute phone calls was how much they reminded her of Ashlyn’s calls and Facetimes with young Meg. The whole thing was just really sweet.

The girl gang of cousins was in full force at the end of this June and ready to take on The Academy, in its 9th year. Lizzy Harris, 13, had flown up for the first three weeks of The Academy again and was hoping for an invite to go to the more prestigious 4th week of camp. She hadn’t been good enough the previous two years but she’d been working hard and was hoping this was her year. She would go back up to camp for weeks 5&6 again too before heading home to Florida. Josie Krieger was 12 and would be attending all 6 weeks of The Academy that she was eligible for this year. She had made some good friends the last couple of years and it was fun to see them again and spend time with her cousins as well. It also didn’t hurt that there was a newer staff member who had revitalized the drama program activity at The Academy the last couple of years. Josie was all in on that action. Ali and Ashlyn were afraid she would snobbishly look down on the worn, wooden, outdoor stage that hadn’t seen much use in recent years. But their little star in the making recognized her chance to capitalize on her experience onstage and act like kind of a boss up in the woods of NH with her fellow soccer girls. 

Cristina Guerrero and Penny Cross were both 11 and were hoping to do the full 6 weeks too. This would be the first year they were old enough to try out for the invitational week 4 and they were both hopeful to make it. That left 10-year old Lily as the youngest member of the girl gang. She was more excited about going to The Academy this year than she had been last year and that was really saying something! She would come home for week 4 and then go back up for weeks 5&6 just like she had done last year. Only little Becca Flanagan was still on the outside looking in from the girl gang. She was 8 years old and couldn’t be an official camper at The Academy until next summer when she was 9.

Ashlyn would be coaching the first 3 weeks of The Academy this summer before going to Switzerland for the EUROs. Then she’d be back to coach the final two weeks of camp, weeks 7&8\. Meg was also going to be a staff member for weeks 1-3 this summer. She wanted to stay closer to Charlie while he finished up a half summer internship. They would both go to DC in mid-July for a 2-week vacation and so Meg could introduce him to all of her friends down there. Charlie would come back North for the rest of his summer while Meg spent another week with her mom in DC before coming back in early August for the start of BC Eagles preseason. It would be her last ever because she was about to embark on her senior year of college. That four years had sure flown by.

Sydney was going to coach most of the 8 weeks again, as she usually did. Niki, for the first time in 9 years, was going to have to pull back on her Academy coaching because she had officially been named the new Head Coach of the BC women’s soccer team. Her very first training camp and preseason was starting in early August and she wanted to make sure she was ready. She was going to coach the three weeks that Ashlyn was away at the EUROs and not much more this year. Niki, as well as everybody else, was hoping she would be able to find a balance that would allow her to spend more time at the Academy in future summers, but she needed to focus on the BC job first and foremost for the next couple of years.

Ali’s love of coaching continued to grow every year. She loved coaching her own kids and knew the time for that had an expiration date on it. As soon as they went to high school and started competing at that level they would be done with Mom as their soccer coach. There was a chance that the brunette would coach one of the girls advanced travel leagues once Lily got to high school but she hadn’t made up her mind yet. All of the teams that participated in the travel league knew of the Krieger family and had asked Ali to be their head coach over the past few years. It was obvious to anybody who watched any of her teams play that she knew what she was doing and was able to get her team on the same page and functioning well together. As the kids got older and Ali was able to implement some actual tactics and a game plan, her coaching skill shone even brighter. It was hard to get excited about a youth level coach but there were still good ones and bad ones. Ali was one of the best. She loved coaching at The Academy most of all. It was such a wonderful feeling being surrounded by so many talented and dedicated women. The brunette could never get enough. She had originally agreed to coaching one week at The Academy and that had grown to two weeks and now three weeks. If she had her way, Ali would be coaching every single week, right alongside Cat Whitehill, Sydney Leroux Dwyer, Kristie Mewis, Yael Averbuch and the other coaches who had committed their summers to the program every year. But her job didn’t allow her that much flexibility. Rather, Ali wouldn’t allow herself to take that much time away from Knight-Harris. Like last year, the brunette would coach 3 weeks this summer – weeks 3, 5, and 8. 

The girl gang that summer was a handful, to say the least. Lizzy Harris was the oldest, but also the cousin who they saw the least during the year. So her natural position of power was diminished a bit. That was all Josie Krieger needed as the next oldest to assume control. She was also the bossiest personality of the group as well so the younger girls never really stood a chance. Thankfully, 12-year old Josie was a much more benevolent ruler than the 6 or 7-year old version had been. Cristina Guerrero and Penny Cross were only 8 and 9 months younger than Josie, respectively, but being a whole grade behind made the point moot. Lily brought up the rear at 10 but seemed the least bothered by it compared to everybody else. She was used to having Josie call the shots and was comfortable telling her to pound sand when her mood called for it.

Puberty was also a prominent member of the girl gang that summer, more so than ever before. Lizzy would be starting 8th grade in September and had gotten her period for the very first time back at the end of February, only a week after the Krieger visit to Florida. That Florida trip had also produced Josie’s first training bra. The times, they were a changing. By the last week in June, Lizzy had started to get used to having her period and had even tried using tampons once before with mediocre results. She was due for her period during week one of The Academy and was planning to try tampons again.

“I just...can you try to keep an eye on her, if you can” Beth asked Ashlyn over the phone the week before The Academy opened for the summer. The florist was a shy and quiet woman by nature and she was uncomfortable asking her sister-in-law to help Lizzy with such a personal matter in her absence. “She’s used tampons once but it didn’t go very well and I know she’ll be nervous about it because she’s away from home...”

“I got it” the keeper assured the nervous mom. “The nurse is always really tuned into that stuff too. We know these girls are going through all of the puberty stuff and we’re ready for it. We even schedule time between sessions just for things like bathroom breaks that might take longer than 5 minutes. We’ve had plenty of girls go back to their cabins and change their underwear or whatever in between sessions. It’s part of life for them and we’re aware of it.”

“I know, Ali’s told me all of that before too” Beth sounded a bit more relieved but still wanted more. “It’s all great, but it’s my baby girl, you know? It’s killing me to not be able to be here for her when she needs me. Don’t get me wrong” she added quickly, afraid of hurting Ashlyn’s feelings, “I’m glad she’s there because she’s been looking forward to it all year. She loves her summers at The Academy...”

“Beth, I promise you. I love that kid like my own and I will make sure she knows she can come talk to me about anything, anytime. I’ve been through this once already with Meg, remember?”

“Oh yeah, I always forget that” Beth chuckled and finally blew out a big sigh of relief. “Ok, and Ali will be there for week 5 when you’re gone...”

“And Syd can handle anything that happens in week 6 when we’re both in Switzerland. The girls all love her. She’s easy to talk to and she makes them all laugh and feel comfortable about things like tampons and periods and sports bras.”

The truth was, every mother that sent their daughter to The Academy for more than just a week worried about them for those same reasons. Often times, the first year of a girl’s menstrual cycle could be unpredictable and full of unwelcome surprises. They weren’t always easy to chart out and keep track of. Every mother had heard the nightmarish stories about young girls getting their periods for the first time at summer camp and being scarred for life. Not to mention the movies that had been made about the subject as well – some comedies and other horror stories. One of the most popular things about The Academy, from the mothers’ point of view anyway, was that it was designed, managed, and coached by women. They had male coaches all the time too, but the coaching staff was almost always at least 80% female from week to week. And every one of the main coaches there had been one of those girls getting her period for the first time at a summer camp or somewhere equally ‘not home’. There was a section about it in the orientation program just to put every parent at ease about it.

Josie would be next to get her period but, if she was anything like her mom then she would be a bit of a late bloomer. Ali had been told by her mom that she had been the same way when she herself had been a girl too.

“I’m not sure if it’s the Scaglione or the Johnson half of the family but we’re good at cranking out dark-haired beauties” Deb always said with a twinkle in her eye. “We specialize in late-bloomers and gays” she would always laugh proudly.

Josie’s late development and lack of need for a training bra seemed to indicate that she was on track for at least the late-bloomer portion of that program. She had shown a definite interest in boys so far and her big crushes had been on the male teenage stars of the hit tv shows and boy bands that populated teen culture those days. The unspoken fear that summer was that Penny or Cristina would pass Josie by in terms of development. Cristina was in the beginning of the growth spurt that usually preceded a girl’s first period, and Penny looked like she was starting to sprout up too. They both had little breast buds already, just like Josie did. But the redhead hadn’t had her growth spurt yet. Ali and Ashlyn wondered if maybe she wasn’t going to get the growth spurt because of her diminutive size but Dr. Comello had assured them that Josie would definitely be growing more, maybe just at a slower rate as she had done all her life.

Along with the physical changes their bodies were beginning to go through, the girls had lots of questions about sex and boys and all of those wonderful, terrifying things. They were in that awkward age where sex stopped being ‘eww that’s gross’ to ‘wait, how does that work?’. It seemed to change daily, depending on their moods. One thing all of the girl gang moms knew was that there was no going backwards. This summer at The Academy was going to be challenging and probably revelatory for them all. The girls were so close that there was no way the youngest of them wasn’t going to be included in whatever conversations Lizzy and Josie had. It made Ashlyn remember back to when Meg had been their age. Meg had gotten all kinds of misinformation from her best friend Tiff’s older sister. It hadn’t been on purpose, but not everybody put a priority on sex education and changing bodies in their own homes. And schools were just now starting to embrace a fully-functional sex education curriculum. There had always been sex-ed in the Gloucester schools, and most other schools across the country. But, depending on the politics of the town or state the school was in, there were two types of sex-ed class. One was realistic, without being graphic, and the other preached abstinence and warned of sin – using fear and eternal damnation to try to reduce unwanted teenage pregnancies.

All of the four-families had been very liberal about teaching their children about sex and their bodies, as had the NYC Kriegers. The Harrises were less open about it and that was largely due to Chris Harris’ refusal to even think about his daughter becoming sexually active. It just made him uncomfortable and he blushed an intense shade of red and made an excuse to leave the room whenever the subject came up. Beth was shy too and took the easy way out sometimes. They never made Lizzy, or Johnny for that matter, feel wrong about whatever question they asked. They never shamed them or laughed at them or made them feel dumb for not knowing the answer. But instead of spending a half hour discussing it face to face and making sure all the kids’ questions got answered, they relied on the body books that Ashlyn and Ali had recommended and used themselves. The Harris method was miles and miles better than so many other kids got, but still left Lizzy with questions she wasn’t sure where to get the answers from. The books were great, really helpful, but they didn’t talk back to you. They couldn’t clarify a concept or answer if she wasn’t quite getting it.

After the quick Krieger family trip to Florida in April for Tammye’s sober anniversary and her wedding anniversary with Carol, Meg had called Ali to discuss a couple of things.

“So what happened?” Ali squinted even though it had no effect on how well she could hear Meg through the phone. 

The brunette was sitting in the minivan that was still parked outside the medical office where she had just had her ultrasound done. It was 10:15am on the last Tuesday of April and she had 7 voicemails and a dozen texts she needed to reply to before driving into the K-H office. But when one of the kids called she always answered.

“Sorry, I didn’t even ask where you were” Meg apologized. “Can you talk for a minute?”

“I’m good. I’m in the minivan but not driving right now. Why aren’t you in class?”

“Just got out. Next one’s not til 11:00am.”

“Ok” Ali took a deep breath and settled into her seat, wishing she had spent a bit more time cleaning herself up after the ultrasound. She was in a rush that morning because there was a lot going on at work. She was grateful for the panty liner in her underwear. “What’s up?”

“Ummm...” the redhead stammered for just a minute before blurting out the question. “What do you want me to tell Jojo about sex and stuff?”

“What?...” Ali’s jaw dropped. She didn’t know what she had been expecting but it definitely hadn’t been that. “Wow, ok then” the brunette processed the question, nodding her head for no reason other than it helped her do that. “Ummm...why are you asking? Is she asking you questions about it?”

“Yeah, she used to ask me cute stuff like what was my first kiss like...”

Ali flashed back to the adorable pow wow she had interrupted on Meg’s bed in the big old house three Thanksgivings ago. Lizzy, Josie, and Lily were all peppering Meg with questions about first kisses. They asked the brunette to join them and she had shared her own story. It was one of Ali’s favorite memories of the girls. She only wished Cristina had been there too. She was alarmed to realize she hadn’t been listening to Meg for a minute or so.

“...so, you know, I’ll do whatever you want me to do. I just need to know what that is.”

“I’m sorry honey, what did she ask you again?”

Meg sighed, annoyed to have to repeat herself. She was sitting in the busy campus center lounge between classes and didn’t want to do a lot of talking if she didn’t have to.

“She and Lizzy were asking me about sex and periods and...penises...and things like that.”

“Where was this?”

“At Gigi’s party. Did you hear anything I said at all?” she huffed, still annoyed.

“I’m sorry Meg” Ali’s tone told the young woman she had heard enough of the sighs and annoyance.

They were both quiet for a few seconds while Ali tried to decide what to say. She and Ashlyn had already talked about Meg’s involvement with the younger kids’ sex education. It had started as a joke but they both knew it was going to happen. Josie especially was going to go to her big sister with questions just like the ones Meg had described.

“It’s ok. I’m just not in a great place to talk about this” Meg spoke softly. “And that’s my fault, not yours. But I’ve been putting this off for two days now. She keeps texting me and I don’t wanna blow her off.”

“Alright, well, thank you for asking, first of all” Ali chuckled. “How come it’s always the ones you don’t worry about what they’ll tell your kids who are the ones who ask you about it, and never the ones who you’re terrified of what they’ll say?”

“You trust me not to screw it up? The sex talk?”

“Well, Jesus” Ali exhaled, suddenly surprised by the level jump. They had been having the sex talk with their kids their whole lives. But she knew Meg was asking about THE sex talk. The one you had before your first time. “No, not the sex talk. I mean, of course I trust you with it but we’re not there yet, are we? They’re just asking about the stuff that you can’t learn from the books, right? It’s like Josie & Penny peeping into the men’s bathroom at the beach” she rolled her eyes and chuckled again. Meg joined her, laughing at one of her favorite stories about Josephine Marie Krieger. Ali took a beat and continued. “They want to know what things look and feel like, what they do in real life.”

“Yeah, that’s what I got out of it. No way either of them is about to have sex” she clarified, realizing she had probably just given her step-mom a heart attack.

“Oh thank God” Ali whispered before replying in her normal voice. “Are you comfortable answering their questions? It’s ok if you’re not honey, you don’t have to. It’s not your job.”

“I know, but I don’t mind I guess. I just need to know, you know, how much do I tell them. Well, just Josie now. I won’t see Lizzy again until this summer.”

“We trust you with the kids Meg” Ali spoke clearly so there would be no doubt about it. “You probably remember the questions you had when you were 11 & 12 better than I do” she laughed. “Just do what feels right to you. No porn though, unless you explain how fake it is. And don’t make her feel bad...”

“...bad about asking the question in the first place” Meg intoned the same thing she’d been hearing for most of her life, making both of them laugh softly. “I got it. Well I got that part anyway. I don’t know” she paused. “I guess I’ll just see how it goes.” There was another minute of quiet between the two of them as their minds whirred. “I remember the talk you and Ash had with me...”

“Oh God, which one?” Ali laughed out loud. “I hope we didn’t screw you up.”

“Nah, you guys were great. I was 11 and I woke up and came downstairs and you were on the couch, making out...”

“Oh my God” Ali’s voice was a mortified whisper, remembering exactly what Meg was referring to. “Yeah, we gave you the good ol’ bases explanation” she chuckled and felt herself blush.

“Hey, don’t knock it” Meg laughed. “What I remember the most was that you were honest with me. I didn’t understand a lot of it, just like you warned me I wouldn’t, but as things started to make more sense I always had that talk to go back to. It helped a lot.”

“Please tell me you finally figured out the difference between a blow job and making out, please...” they were both laughing now, some of it was nerves but most of it was genuine and heartfelt.

“Yep. Got it” Meg giggled after a couple of minutes where they both enjoyed the humor. “Not so gross anymore” she admitted shyly and then cleared her throat. “So, should I tell you what she’s asking me and stuff?”

“Well, honestly, I’d love that” the brunette confessed quietly. “But I don’t want you to be a snitch or anything. You two have your own relationship and I don’t want that to suffer because you’re informing on her.” It was Ali’s turn to pause. Her voice was serious when she spoke again. “But if she’s ever in trouble, or about to make a big mistake...then yes. Tell me. I swear to God I won’t rat you out. But you’ve gotta tell me if there’s something wrong.”

“Yeah, I can’t imagine it, but I will.”

“Promise me Meg. I mean it now.”

“I promise.”

Cristina had begun asking Ashlyn similar questions in just the past few months. The keeper was by far the woman she felt most comfortable talking with. Ashlyn had always been honest with her, just as Ali had always done the same with young Meg. Ashlyn had cemented her place in Cristina’s psyche, and heart, that day on Good Harbor Beach four years earlier. The keeper’s heart to heart with the two foster kids with the heartbreaking story had made an indelible mark on both Edgar and Cristina Guerrero that day. The scared, traumatized little girl had found her hero. She could touch and feel a living example of somebody who didn’t have the world’s best childhood and had built a beautiful life anyway. 

It was only natural that Cristina would turn to Ashlyn with questions about her changing body and boys and sex and puberty. The keeper felt the trust bestowed upon her deeply. She knew Meg loved her and trusted her but it had always stung a little bit that the redhead had gone to Ali for advice on tampons and sex. Ashlyn was happy that Meg felt close and comfortable enough to do that, but it still hurt, just the tiniest bit when she allowed herself to feel it. It was fulfilling to be that person for Cristina and the keeper took the responsibility very seriously. Both Ali and Ashlyn wondered who Josie would turn to, but were pretty sure it would be Meg or Sydney. They hoped it would be her moms, of course, but were preparing themselves for the stab to the heart if it wasn’t. Sydney had been the model godmother. Truthfully, she put all other godmothers to shame. She had doted on Josie her entire young life, calling to talk to her, sending her cards out of the blue just to give her a motivating quote or some of her own words of wisdom. Josie had always been a guy’s girl, favoring uncle Koty Wild more than anybody else. But she would go to almost any male family or friend before she would go to a female. Meg, Grandma Deb, and Auntie Sydney were the three exceptions to this behavior and that was it. It wasn’t that Josie didn’t love Whitney or Molly or the other grandmothers and aunties, she absolutely did and she enjoyed the time she spent with them whenever it happened. But if she had her druthers, she would always find Koty or Grandpa Ken or Ryan if at all possible.

The second day of the third week of the Academy was a rainy day and all the campers were finding indoor things to do for their afternoon free period. They had 90 minutes to do whatever they wanted before the next training session started. Some girls went back to their bunks and read or napped or played on their phones. Others went to the main dining hall to play games and hang out with other campers and staff members. Still others went to the arts & crafts cabin to relax and unwind that way. Some less fortunate campers went to the nurse’s cabin for treatment of minor knocks, scrapes, blisters, missing toenails, and other glorious injuries from time spent trying to perfect their beautiful game. Lily Krieger had smashed knees with another camper at the end of the previous session and was laying on her back in one of the empty bunks in Ali and Ashlyn’s coach’s cabin. There was an icepack on her elevated knee and mostly-dried tears on her face as Ali sat on the edge of the bunk positioning pillows under the girl’s injured leg. Sydney was talking to the rest of the girl gang who had all come to check on their youngest member.

“She’s fine. It’s just a knock. We’ll ice it up and let her rest this afternoon and she’ll be good as new” the coach explained from behind the girls who had all gathered around their fallen sister as if she was on her deathbed.

“But it huuuuurts” Lily whined as her bottom lip started to quiver again. She loved all the attention she was getting but it had been a tough knock and both grown-ups in the room knew she had valid pain.

“Oh, well if it hurts that bad maybe we’d better just amputate, what do you think Kriegs?” Sydney came closer and feigned dire concern. “Can we save the top half of the leg at least?”

“I don’t know” Ali shook her head sadly, not skipping a beat. “If it’s that painful, I don’t think we have any choice. I think the whole leg has to go. Sorry Lil” she shrugged sadly.

The door burst open and Ashlyn and Meg scurried into the cabin, trying to get out of the rain that was really coming down hard by then.

“Oh no, did I hear that right?” Ashlyn’s anguished voice held everybody’s attention after she slammed the door shut behind her. “Is she gonna lose the whole leg? Not the whole leg...say it ain’t so.”

“No Mama! You can’t cut off my leg!” Lily laughed at the keeper’s dramatic entrance, as did all the other girls.

Ali beamed at her wife, the two exchanging grins while Ashlyn and Meg took off their rain jackets and wet sneakers just inside the door. The brunette got up off the bunk so the newcomers could check on the patient. She kissed her wife’s lips quickly on her way by as the laughter died down.

“What happened sweet pea? You ok?” Ashlyn leaned over and kissed Lily’s forehead. She and Meg had been with a different group of campers and hadn’t seen the collision.

As Lily, with help from Cristina and Penny who had both been on the field with her when it happened, described the knee smash to Ashlyn and Meg, Lizzy and Josie followed Ali and Sydney to the kitchen area of the bare-bones, open-concept cabin. The grown-ups were getting some snacks and drinks together for the girls and thought the two eldest were angling for first dibs.

“Just wait a minute guys, we’re working on it” Ali spoke without turning around to face the girls, as she pulled some cheese sticks and go-gurts out of the fridge.

“No, Mom...” Josie hesitated, her voice halting. “Lizzy has a question.”

Ali and Sydney shared a brief, wary glance as they closed the fridge door and turned around to face the two girls.

“What’s up honey?” Ali offered them both assorted snack items from her open hands while Sydney held out different flavors of Gatorade bottles in hers. The girls both took a couple of cheese sticks and a bottle and exchanged their own anxious look. “Everything ok?”

“Yeah, umm...” Lizzy swallowed hard and blinked a few times. “Do you have more...tampons....Auntie Ali?”

“Oh, sure I do” Ali frowned, confused, but quickly put a smile back on her face so she didn’t make her niece think she was angry or upset with her for asking. “But...it’s only been...” she counted days in her head, “...not even two weeks since you just had your period. You won’t need them for another couple of weeks.”

Penny and Cristina joined them in the kitchen area to get their snacks and drinks and listened intently to the conversation. Lizzy’s face was beet red from embarrassment at bringing up her period in the first place, she didn’t want a bigger audience than necessary too.

“Andrea told her that she’d get it again this week” Josie offered when it was obvious that Lizzy wasn’t going to say anything else any time soon. “She says she gets hers every two weeks when she’s here because of all the running.”

“Who’s Andrea?” Ali frowned again.

“One of the older girls” Sydney answered with a nod. “But you girls are turning into the older girls now too, I can’t believe it” the coach chuckled. “Andrea will be a freshman in September” she explained.

“Ah, ok” Ali nodded, understanding that Andrea was one of the oldest girls at camp. 

The oldest at the ripe old age of 14. But she was still older and had probably had her period for a year or maybe more. The freshmen were always challenging because they were the top of the food chain at the Academy, except for the invitational week 4 when the campers were 11-16 years old. But for the rest of weeks 1-6 the 14-year olds ruled the roost.

“So can she have some?” Josie continued the negotiation for her shy cousin.

“Of course you can” Ali smiled at all four girls now. “It’s always good to be prepared. But you’re not gonna get your period after just two weeks.”

“I thought it was four weeks?” Penny asked as she gasped for breath after downing half her Gatorade bottle in one big gulp. She had an orange ring around her lips.

“Wait, it comes every two weeks?” Cristina’s eyes grew wide with surprise and maybe fear.

“No, no, no” Sydney clucked and shook her head. “Listen chickadees, Andrea doesn’t know what she’s talking about. You don’t get your period more because you run or play sports or anything.”

“But she said...” Josie squinted, trying to make sense of the two opposing pieces of information.

“Well I’m telling you she’s not right” Sydney gave them all a look that told them she had her facts straight. 

“Andrea might have a really unusual cycle where she gets her period every two weeks” Ali offered with a shrug. “But that’s really rare and probably isn’t what’s happening.”

“What’s happening over here now?” Meg joined the group and grabbed one of her water thermoses out of the fridge.

The girls explained the situation and began arguing about how reliable Andrea was in the first place. Apparently, the girl had earned a lot of respect by correctly predicting the last two campers to get their period for the first time. She was sort of famous among the younger girls for this misconstrued dumb luck. The argument turned into a conversation which turned into a discussion which turned into a practical seminar on the female body and the changes it went through during puberty. Nobody had planned it. Nothing could be done to stop it. Everybody participated in one way or another, even the invalid asking a question from the bunk now and then. The five girls, one college senior, and three mothers all sat across from each other in the empty lower bunks. Ashlyn and Sydney dragged a third one over to form a u shape and they all sat side by side facing each other. Ali sat with Lily on her bunk. The four girls sat close to each other on another bunk. And Ashlyn, Meg and Sydney sat side by side on the third bunk. 

Without any of their body part or sex education books to fall back on, the four adults had to rely on their own bodies to demonstrate what they were describing. After 20 minutes of basic body parts and a summary of what happens when you get your period and what the blood is and where it comes from and why you won’t die from losing that blood every month, things got interesting.

“My moms made me look at my vagina in a mirror” Penny offered. It was hard to read her face though. She seemed non-plussed about the whole thing but giggled because she thought it was what she was supposed to do.

“That’s the only way to know what your vagina and the rest of your vulva looks like” Ali nodded with a smile. Leave it to the two other lesbian moms to raise their daughter right and make her comfortable with her own body. The brunette wasn’t surprised by Niki and Molly’s parenting win. “When Josie and Lily want to know what theirs look like that’s what we’re gonna do too.”

“My mom did that with me too” Meg smiled.

“Can we do it now?” Lily asked with a serious look on her face. “I want to know what mine looks like.”

“Me too” Josie agreed eagerly.

“Can I do it too?” Cristina looked right at Ashlyn, her eyes pleading.

Ali, Sydney, and Ashlyn shared a look and held their collective breath for almost a full minute as they tried to figure out what to do. They couldn’t think of a safer or more comfortable environment to have the girls in. The conversation had come up completely organically and felt 100% natural. There were no better people they would want to be having the talk with the girls, and that included Meg who had already been honest and kind when answering the questions directed at her. There was no better time than the present. Sydney jogged over to her cabin to get her hand mirror so there were two of them they could use while all the girls used the bathroom before they got started. An empty bladder would be a good thing to have for what happened next.

“Should we, like, call Beth or something?” Ali whispered to her wife as she retrieved her own hand mirror while the girls peed and giggled and laughed with each other.

“What about Kyle? He won’t care, will he?” Ashlyn responded with her own question.

They knew Niki and Molly wouldn’t care because they had all talked about how easygoing Penny was about her body and their bodies and her brothers’ bodies. The Crosses were pretty chill about all of that stuff in general.

“I think Liz and Cris need this more than anybody” the brunette replied. “What do you think?”

“I cannot believe this is how our free period is going today” Ashlyn chuckled and rolled her eyes. “I think they sent their kids to us for 6 weeks because they trust us. I think we’re fine. It’ll be good. Besides, you and I both know the girls need to know this stuff. We may as well teach them the right stuff while we’re all together here, right?”

And so it began. Ali started by making sure everybody was ok with doing the mirror exercise. She asked if anybody wanted to do it in private but they had all shaken their heads no, even Lizzy. The brunette then made it crystal clear that what went on in that cabin that afternoon was not to be shared with anybody else but their parents. Ashlyn added how important it was to not tell anybody else at the camp about it either. She assured them they weren’t doing anything wrong, but it was something you usually did at home – not at summer camp. That was the only difference. After everybody acknowledged the rules, the exploration and questions commenced.

“But what’s this then?” Josie asked, scrunching her face and squinting as she touched her urinary opening, just below her clitoris.

With only two hand mirrors they had to take turns and, even though it wasn’t part of the original plan, the other girls crowded around the two hand mirrors to look too. Penny, having already done this at home, was happy to let Josie and Cristina go first. Cristina stood with her shorts and panties around her ankles, knees bent and legs as wide as those clothes around her ankles would allow her. Ashlyn knelt next to her, holding a mirror between the girl’s legs, trying to make her as comfortable as possible. Meg was on the other side of the girl holding a flashlight so they could see what was going on. The downpour outside made it darker than usual in the room and the older redhead had come to the rescue with the idea of flashlights. Josie was naked from the waist down in a similar position, her feet wide apart with nothing restricting them. Ali held the mirror for her and Sydney the flashlight. Penny and Lizzy moved between the two groups, taking long looks at both girls and all their parts. Lily felt left out and was only able to stay away for the first few minutes before she had to see what was in the mirrors too.

“That’s where your pee comes out” Sydney answered Josie’s question matter-of-factly as all the adults had done so far.

“I can’t see” Josie scrunched up her face again. “It’s just a little tiny hole?”

“Yep” Ali answered and shared a big smile with Sydney. 

Both women were taken back in time to when they had done the same thing themselves, but without the parental guidance. This way was much better. Way more answers to the all-important questions a girl had about her growing body.

“So this is my...outer...” Cristina’s voice was softer than Josie’s and the dark haired girl had both of her slender hands between her legs as she spread herself open.

“Labia” Ashlyn filled in the blank for her, speaking softly but confidently.

“And these are my inner...labia.”

“You got it” the keeper smiled.

“Your hairs are dark” Lily noted with surprise. “Like mom’s.” She giggled but gave her cousin a sweet smile at the same time. She patted Ashlyn’s shoulder as she leaned on her. “Mama too.”

Josie and Cristina, despite being a year apart in age, were at almost the same stage of puberty. Josie was following Ali’s own schedule and was slightly later than average on the puberty timeline. Cristina, as was common with many non-caucasian girls, was experiencing changes in her body a little bit earlier than average. They both had started budding breasts about a year and a half earlier, but their nipples hadn’t started to protrude quite yet. They both had pubic hair and underarm hair but it hadn’t thickened or coarsened much yet. Josie’s was fine and orange in both places and still pretty scarce. Cristina’s was dark brown, just like the hair on her head, and thicker than Josie’s but not by much. It had been two summers ago when Ashlyn had walked in on Lily and Cristina comparing their vulvas, and it made sense that Lily would be surprised to see pubic hair now when there had been none there the last time she had looked. The tell-tale growth spurt that was almost always a sign that a pubescent girl was about to start her monthly menstrual cycle had eluded both Josie and her cousin so far, but Cristina was just beginning to get taller this summer. If anybody was going to guess, they would probably say that Cristina would get her period in about 6 months and Josie maybe not for 7 or 8 months. Only time would tell.

“You have dark hair too?” Cristina looked up into Ashlyn’s kind face with puzzlement, the keeper’s blonde hair on her head causing the confusion.

“I do” she winked and grinned.

“Your hairs are red like Jojo’s, right?” Lily moved around to hug Meg’s back.

“All my hairs are red” Meg laughed. “Mama’s the only one who doesn’t match” she nodded at the keeper. “At least as far as I know” she cocked her head at Sydney.

“Auntie Syd, Auntie Syd” Lily hobbled over to assume the same back-hugging stance with Sydney. “Do your hairs match?”

“Yes sweet potato, my carpet matches the drapes” she laughed, as did the three other adults. None of the kids understood the joke though.

“It’s a jokey way to say that the hair on your head is the same color as the hair between your legs” Ali explained, still giggling. “Drapes is another word for curtains...”

“Oh, like in the living room. The curtains would be the same color as the rug” Lizzy started to catch on. 

“Right. And the curtains means the hair on your head...” the brunette continued.

“And the rug is your down there hair” Lizzy finished it off with a laugh, clearly starting to get more relaxed. “That’s funny.”

“How come yours doesn’t match?” Penny stood in front of Ashlyn with her hands on her hips and her head cocked to the side.

“Because I dye my hair blonde” the keeper pointed to her head with her free hand, “at least most of the time anyway.”

“How come?”

“Because I like it this way” Ashlyn shrugged. “Sometimes I cut my hair really short and sometimes I let it grow really long and sometimes I dye it blonde and sometimes I let it go back to being light brown...” she paused and grinned before dropping her eyes to her crotch, “...like my other hair.”

They all laughed and spent the next 15 minutes talking about bums and poop and anuses and the importance of keeping your whole vulva area clean. This naturally brought them back to periods and menstrual blood and good personal hygiene habits. It occurred to Ali that her brother and his husband probably didn’t have a lot of tips in that regard for young Cristina so she went out of her way to make sure the girl got all her questions asked and answered on the topic. 

“Do you use tampons yet?” Cristina asked Lizzy, awe in her voice at the very idea.

“Yeah, just once though” she bashfully replied. “It’s harder than it looks” she offered honestly with wide eyes. The sweetness and innocence of the moment hit all the grown-ups right in the feels.

“It sure is” Meg spoke up. She wasn’t staying purposefully quiet, but the other three women had everything covered and there wasn’t much for her to add. Until now. “I had a heck of a time learning how to use them when I first got my period.”

“Does it hurt?”  
“How hard is it?”  
“Do you use them now?”  
“Can you die if you leave them in for too long?”  
“Does it feel weird when it’s inside you?”

The five girls all asked an urgent question at the same time, none of them taking their riveted eyes off of the college student they all admired and idolized so much.

“Whoa” Meg laughed. “Ummm...It’s easy once you get the hang of it. Yes I use them all the time now, except not when I go to sleep or if I have bad cramps. You can get really sick and die if you leave a tampon inside you for a very long time. If you have it in right then you don’t feel it at all. And tampons only hurt if you’re doing it wrong. Right Ali?”

“That’s right Megski” the brunette grinned as the girls switched places. Penny stood between Ali and Sydney and Lizzy with Ashlyn and Meg.

“You guys are asking great questions” the redhead spoke again. “And I think that’s the most important thing. It’s ok to ask your questions. How else will you know the answers?” she gave a big shrug. “My mom told me that when she was a girl her mom didn’t want to talk to her about any of this stuff. My mom was always there to answer my questions, all three of them were. I was really lucky.”

“Wait, you have three moms?” Penny’s mouth fell open as she looked over at Meg.

“Yeah, she has Hannah too” Josie replied quickly, as if she might win a prize for fastest correct answer.

“Oh yeah” Penny shook her head and giggled. “I forgot.”

They spent a few minutes getting the new girls acquainted with their private parts before Penny calmly and correctly named everything between her legs.

“Well we know who the A student is today” Sydney chuckled. “Great job Pen” she hugged the girl’s waist. “Such a smartie. I love it.”

“Now remember, Penny’s done this before so don’t feel bad if you’re just looking for the first time. It’s not a competition” Ashlyn said primarily for Lizzy’s benefit. She had felt the girl tense up at Sydney’s comment even though it had been meant as nothing other than praise for Penny. “And it’s not a race. Take your time.”

“Wow, you have lots of hair” Lily commented as she looked into Lizzy’s mirror, making her cousin self-conscious.

“Ok Lil, you’re right” Ashlyn shot her wife a frustrated look but tried to keep it out of her voice. “Lizzy’s older than the rest of you and that’s how it works. The older you get, the more hair you’ll grow, and the bigger your boobs will get and the taller you’ll get and the better you’ll be at using tampons...”

“Here, Lily, come here” Ali gestured to the little blonde. “Do you want to take your turn?”

Penny had already stopped looking in her mirror and was more interested in what Lizzy’s pubic hair looked like than anything else. She stepped to the side, pulled her panties and shorts up and went to take a look.

“We keep growing hair forever?!” Josie looked at Ashlyn with her eyebrows up to her hairline. “Are you kidding?”

“How long does it get?” Cristina asked, equally shocked at the idea.

All of the girls started giggling and asking questions about it. Ashlyn closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. She wasn’t aggravated, but non-stop questions from five excited girls was starting to get to her.

“Ladies, ladies, please...remain calm” Sydney’s loud voice brought order back to the cabin. The playfulness on her face let them know they hadn’t done anything wrong. “Yes, the pubic hair keeps growing as you get older. You cut it just like you get your hair on your head cut” she shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.”

“You go to the salon and they cut your...pubic hair for you?!” Cristina gasped. “Really?!”

“No, no” Ali giggled even though she tried hard not to. It was so obvious to her who Cristina’s dad was. She saw so many of Kyle’s mannerisms in her that she couldn’t help but laugh, and love the girl even more. “I’m not laughing at your question Cris” she tried to explain quickly. “You just look really cute and you remind me of your Dad and it made me laugh.”

“You can cut your own pubic hair” Sydney decided to better explain herself. “Or you can shave it or you can let it grow out. You can go get it waxed off if you’d rather do that than shave but that’s about as close to a salon as you’re gonna get. But most importantly, you can do whatever you want with it because it’s YOUR body, right?”

Sydney’s explanation of her previous answer only caused more of a furor over all the things you could do with your own pubic hair. Finally, after almost 5 full minutes of hubbub and laughter, Cristina’s shy voice reached Ashlyn’s ear.

“What do you do? With yours” she looked down at the keeper’s crotch while the rest of the room kept the clamorous conversation going on.

Only Ashlyn and Meg and Lizzy had heard her and the redhead raised her eyebrows in amusement at the older keeper.

“Oh, well I shave mine a little bit, but not too much” she blushed, unsure why this, of all the things they had discussed, was embarrassing her. 

She thought perhaps it was the serious way Cristina was studying her. Ashlyn was suddenly very aware again of the fact that the girl lived with two dads and a brother and no other females. It had become a subject of dismay for Ashlyn over the last few years but she never knew what she could do about it. Not that anything needed to be done, necessarily. Kyle and Nathan were wonderful parents and had done a great job raising their daughter so far. There was an agonizing inquisitiveness in Cristina’s eyes that pierced Ashlyn’s heart and made her melt.

“Umm...” Cristina stammered and started again. “But what does it look like?” her voice was practically a whisper. “Can I see?”

Lizzy turned to look at the girl standing close to her, impressed by her boldness. She had been dying to ask the same thing for the whole hour they had been doing this demonstration but knew she would never muster the courage. 

“Uh...” Ashlyn felt her pulse quicken and her cheeks get hot but she fought the nerves back. What was this whole exercise about anyway? The girls had all been brave and open with them, why shouldn’t they expect and receive the same in return? It felt like forever as her internal debate waged on, but it had really only been a few seconds before she heard her own voice reply. “Sure you can honey.”

The keeper handed Meg the mirror and stood up, groaning a little as she got off of her bad knee. Ali, Sydney, and the other 3 girls kept their conversation going, only half paying attention to Ashlyn. They only had about 20 minutes left of the free period anyway and they just assumed Lizzy had finished with her mirror exercise. It wasn’t until the keeper was standing there exposed, with her shorts and underwear on the floor next to her that they all gave her their full attention.

“What’s Mama doing?” Josie asked with a frown. She wasn’t upset that Ashlyn was standing there with no pants on, she had seen her Mama naked her whole life and this was nothing new for her. She just didn’t understand why it was happening now.

Before Ali could answer the redhead, Ashlyn spoke up, raking her fingers through her own neatly trimmed short hairs as she did so, trying to make sure things were as presentable as possible after 6 hours of sweating and coaching already that day.

“You guys can go look online somewhere and find some pictures of naked women. There are a lot of them out there I promise you” she chuckled a little nervously. She glanced quickly at her wife and felt the encouragement in her favorite amber eyes. It helped immensely. “But most of them are fake. They’re not real. They’ve either been posed or the pictures have been airbrushed or photoshopped or whatever. Or they’ve been staged by some guy who’s just trying to make money off of it” she shook her head and tried to reel herself back on track. “Anyway, the point is, this is what a woman looks like. A real woman” she turned around slowly and took her shirt and sports bra off with a grunt. “This is nothing Josie and Lily don’t see all the time” she winked at them. Their grins gave her more courage. “Penny, you’ve probably seen your moms a lot too, huh?”

“Yep” the girl nodded with a smile. “They don’t have your tattoos though” she lifted her eyebrows and giggled.

“Ha” Ali laughed her short, loud, shout of a laugh and smiled broadly. 

She knew Cristina’s situation had been a thorn in her wife’s side and was happy to see her doing something about it. She was also very happy the cabin door was closed and locked because if somebody walked in right now there would be lawsuits up the wazoo and The Academy would be finished for good. The whole thing looked really bad but, in truth, was exactly the opposite. It was really good. It was loving, caring parents, aunts, sisters, and cousins sharing their bodies with each other. Without shame or fear. Without a single bit of sexuality involved. This was simply about helping young girls feel comfortable in their own skin at a time when the rest of the world was giving them every kind of mixed message they could imagine.

“I want you girls to all promise me that if you ever have any questions about your body, you come and ask me. I’ll always answer you honestly. I’ll tell you the truth and make sure you understand it. Ok?”

“That goes for me too” Sydney stood up and stripped out of her clothes as she spoke with a catch in her throat to the only daughters she would ever have. “I love you girls like my own and you all know you can come and ask me anything, any time, right?”

Only Ali and Dom knew that, in her heart, the coach believed that the baby she had lost had been her baby girl. Sydney shared a brief but meaningful nod with her best friend before proudly facing the room with her hands on her hips. 

“Yes Auntie Syd” Josie smiled up at the beautiful, naked, black woman with the largest breasts she had ever seen.

All the girls had small, shy smiles on their faces. It was easy to see the impact that afternoon’s lesson had left on them all. Lizzy and Lily still had their pants off and giggled as they pulled their shirts over their heads too. Lizzy struggled with her sports bra until Meg stood up to help her with it and then took her own clothes off too. Penny, Josie, and Cristina all did the same and were soon naked, grinning from ear to ear. 

“You too Mom” Lily tugged on Ali’s shirt.

“No, no pressure now” Ashlyn intervened, always conscious of her wife’s shyness. “We all do what we’re comfortable with and nobody tries to make you do more.”

But Ali stood up and stripped too. How could she not? Her face lit up in an ear to ear, nose-wrinkling grin as she looked at the other faces and bodies in that cabin. She’d never wanted to share her body more than she did in that moment, well at least not in a non-sexual way. She’d never felt more accepted or honored either, even as the girls scrutinized everything about her body. They compared all four women, quietly noting differences from one to the next. Ali had the smallest breasts. Meg was the tallest. Sydney had the biggest boobs and the biggest belly and the biggest butt. Ashlyn had the most tattoos. Ali had the most pubic hair. Meg’s red short hairs were a different color red than Josie’s, and her labia were bigger than anybody else’s. Ashlyn’s pubic hairs were really not blonde like the hair on her head. Meg’s muscles were more defined than anybody’s. Sydney’s labia were much darker than the rest of her skin, but she was still pink inside once she spread them apart, just like everybody else. Ashlyn’s light pink nipples were an entirely different color than Ali’s dark pink ones. The varicose vein behind Ashlyn’s right knee looked totally different than the one on Sydney’s calf. Meg was the only grown woman without a c-section scar across their lower abdomen. Ashlyn’s spiderweb stretchmarks looked nothing like Ali’s tiger stripe ones near her hips, but none of them were as big and visible as Sydney’s.

It may have been unconventional, but who got to decide that? That 20 minutes of looking at the female form in various shapes and sizes and in its raw state probably did more to boost the girl gang’s own body images than anything else their parents had done for them their entire lives. The post-training free period certainly hadn’t gone as planned, but no-one in that cabin would change a thing about it. It had been empowering and educational for all of them. Maybe it was unconventional. Maybe not. But it really didn’t matter. All they knew in that cabin, on that Monday afternoon in the pouring rain, was that it felt good and right and powerful and beautiful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NWSL playoff race heating up now! Big game tonight. Can't wait to see how it goes. It's on ESPN2 too!  
> Also really enjoying the WNBA playoffs. That Washington Mystics vs Las Vegas Aces semifinal round game last night was incredible!


	31. EUROs Switzerland 2033 - Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut warning at the end of the chapter

As she made her way through Geneva International Airport on Saturday July 30th, Ali yawned and tried to get her bearings. It was just after 3pm local time and she was feeling the effects of jet lag, big time. The older she got, the harder it was to bounce back from the time difference when she travelled through so many time zones. The first thing her brain did, without any prompting, was calculate the 6-hour time difference between Switzerland and Boston, Massachusetts. It was 9am Saturday morning back home in Gloucester where Kyle and Nathan were in charge of her kids and dogs for the next 10 days. Josie, Lily, and Cristina would be going to the 6th week of the Academy tomorrow. Dodge was going to science camp starting on Monday, probably for the last time because he wasn’t as interested in it as he used to be. And Drew and Edgar were off and enjoying a free week which Ali and Ashlyn both hoped would provide their eldest son some good old male bonding time with Kyle and Nathan. 

The brunette had taken the overnight flight and done her best to get some sleep during her 10 hours on the dark, quiet plane. She had considered taking a sleeping pill but she decided not to and now wished she had. She didn’t like to take any pills unless she really needed to. Ali looked up at the airport signs to make sure she was headed in the right direction and got excited about seeing her gorgeous keeper after 2 weeks. The thrill only lasted a moment before her fuzzy brain remembered that Ashlyn was at the Stade de Geneve at that very moment, getting ready to call the 4pm quarterfinal game. The 2033 EUROs had been another big success for women’s soccer during the previous two weeks. Even non-European countries were watching and cheering their favorite players on now. It had taken a while for the women’s game to grow, but there were plenty of European players in the NWSL and plenty of American footballers playing abroad so that fans had a favorite player on almost every international team.

Ali’s face fell with the realization that her sweet keeper wasn’t going to be meeting her at this airport. It had all been planned out, of course, as had the rest of their week because it was peak tourist season and hotels and attractions got booked up months in advance. Ali had known for weeks that she wouldn’t see Ashlyn until before the second quarterfinal game at 7pm that evening. She would go to the hotel and get settled and showered and changed and, hopefully, revitalized before going to the stadium to have dinner with Ashlyn and the rest of the broadcast team and their guests. It still bummed her out and she stuck her bottom lip out in a small pout as she turned down the last corridor and got in the line for customs. One of the best feelings in the world was seeing her love again in the airport – it had always moved her, from the very first trip Ashlyn had taken back in 2016. They had stopped driving each other to and from the airport for their individual trips because it just got too complicated with the kids. They now greeted each other at home instead and while it was always a sweet homecoming moment, they both missed the bigger airport reunions. It seemed like such a silly, mundane thing, but it was special to Ali and Ashlyn. The brunette jumped when her phone rang in her hand, but then sucked her bottom lip back in when she recognized Ashlyn’s ringtone.

“Hi honey” she smiled into the phone and turned her body to the side to avoid talking into the people in front of her.

“Hey baby, welcome to Switzerland” Ashlyn’s voice was soft and sweet and high and Ali could practically see that dimple she loved so much right through the phone.

“Thanks” the brunette grinned and felt her whole self start to come back to life. “I miss you...”

“Me too, a lot” Ashlyn sighed. “I’m sorry I can’t be there...”

“Babe, it’s ok” Ali cut off the unnecessary apology. She could hear lots of activity in the background and knew her keeper was busy and surrounded by other busy people getting ready to get back to the pre-game show. “Aren’t you...on right now?” she glanced up at one of the tvs in the area that was showing the EUROs coverage.

“Commercial break, but I’ve gotta get right back. Just had to hear your voice...I love you Al.”

“Aw, honey...I love you too. I can’t wait to see you. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Ok, gotta go” Ashlyn’s words were short but Ali knew it was just because she was in a rush. “Just let the driver handle everything. Steffan. He knows the drill and what to do. You tell him when to pick you back up and he’ll take you right to the stadium after you’re settled in at the hotel.”

“Alright, I will. I’ll just enjoy the ride. Now get back to work would ya? Geez. Such a slacker” she teased and was rewarded with laughter from her wife. “See you soon babe.”

As Ali rode in the backseat of the nice sedan, she couldn’t help but notice how much like Germany her surroundings were, and for good reason. Switzerland was a small landlocked country in Europe that was bordered by Italy to the South, just across the Alps; Germany to the North; and France to the West. The Eastern border was shared by Lichtenstein and Austria. Stuttgart, Germany, which had been one of the host cities for the 2025 EUROs, was only 135 miles North of Zurich, Switzerland, one of this year’s host cities. Switzerland was a wide but relatively short country in terms of shape. The defining feature was the mountainous terrain that dominated much of the landscape, especially in the southern half of the country. The Alps were one of the best-known mountain ranges in the world and Switzerland was home to about half of that acreage, sharing it with Italy to the South. 

Because of all the mountains, and the valleys that came with them, the weather in Switzerland was almost impossible to predict with any consistency. It was a pretty good bet that the summer months would be warm and humid though, depending on the altitude you were at. The Northern half of the country was also known as the Swiss Plateau, and it was where the majority of the population resided in most of the biggest cities. The most notable exception to this was Geneva which was in the bottom left corner of the country, just at the bottom tip of Lake Geneva which was shaped, roughly, like a croissant. Geneva was the only major city not in the Northern Plateau region. 

Switzerland was famous for being neutral when it came to politics and world events. It was also where the Red Cross, the international humanitarian organization, had been formed. More germane to the EUROs, FIFA headquarters were in Zurich, while the International Olympic Committee was based in Lausanne. Keeping with the sporting theme, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) called Zurich home as well. Switzerland was also where many major pharmaceutical and technology companies were based, not to mention Nestle chocolate. Albert Einstein developed his theory of relativity in Bern, Switzerland. Roger Federer, one of the best tennis players to ever play the game, was Swiss. And two of Ali’s favorite childhood books centered on the mountainous country – ‘The Swiss Family Robinson’ and ‘Heidi’.

There were four national languages in Switzerland – German, French, Italian, and Romansh. About 63% of the country spoke German, or the dialectic cousin of German called German Swiss. 29% spoke French, mostly in the Southwestern area where Geneva was and along the western border. 9% spoke Italian, near the southernmost border with Italy. The tiny bit that was left, in some of the most far-flung and isolated parts of the country, spoke Romansh which got its origins from the Roman civilization that had originally conquered the area all those years ago. Ali wasn’t very good at French but she still had her German and she was hoping the dialectic changes wouldn’t mess her up too much.

Five stadiums in different cities were being used for the EUROs that summer in Switzerland. If you started at the top right corner of the country and moved counter-clockwise they were the Kybunpark in St Gillen, the Letzigrund in Zurich, the St Jakob-Park in Basel, Stade de Geneve in the southern Genevan suburb of Lancy, and the Stade du Suisse in the country’s capital of Bern which was located approximately in the middle of the country, but still on the northern Plateau area. They were all right around 30,000 capacity with only the St Gillen facility closer to 20,000 and the Basel location up nearer 40,000. The Group stage games had been rotated among the cities just as it had been done in 2025 Germany and then 2029 Israel. There were two broadcast teams again, exactly the same teams as 2029 Israel, and everything was working like a well-oiled machine. The renowned Swiss watchmakers had nothing on the organizers of this year’s EUROs tournament.

Broadcast Team A was led by Ashlyn, and she had Camila and Lucy Bronze with her again. Team B was captained by Wendie Renard with Ada Hegerberg and Sam Kerr. It was odd how all 6 of the women picked right up where they had left off 4 years earlier. They had seen each other now and again, just as Ashlyn still kept in remote touch with Sylvia Neid and Birgit Prinze and Caroline Seger, the gang from her Germany stint. Everyone had their own busy life they were trying to maintain, and all of the 6 EUROs broadcast team members were mothers by this time too. Now that it was Quarterfinals time, the travelling for games every other day had slowed down significantly. Ashlyn and Ali would still need to visit 3 cities to close out the final stages of the tournament, but they had 8 days in which to do it instead of the usual 6.

Quarterfinal games were today, Saturday July 30th and Sunday July 31st. Team A was in Geneva and Team B was up in Zurich. The two semi-final games would be played on Thursday August 4th in the same stadium – St Jakob-Park in Basel. The consolation game and the championship game would be played on Sunday August 7th in the capital, Bern. Then everybody, including Ali and Ashlyn, was taking off and heading for home on Monday August 8th. The Kriegers had carefully planned their travel and sightseeing time among those game dates, making sure to arrive the afternoon before so the keeper could attend and participate in the broadcast meetings the afternoon or evening before. Ali felt bad that this had been a parents-only trip because she had promised Beth Harris that they would take Johnny and Lizzy with them for their next foreign travel. The Harris kids would have to wait until the World Cup two years away, which would give everybody lots of time to plan and make arrangements. It was probably better that way anyway.

“There she is” Ashlyn beamed as she stood up from the couch in the green room that had been set up at the stadium. She opened her arms wide and met Ali a few feet inside the door with an enormous hug and a quick kiss. “God I missed you” she whispered into the brunette’s ear as they embraced. “I want to kiss you so bad but I know everybody’s watching us right now, aren’t they?” she giggled over her wife’s shoulder.

Ali opened her eyes and saw that the room full of about 15 people were indeed all smiling at the reunited couple.

“Yep” she pulled her head back and gave Ashlyn a slow, soft kiss anyway. It wasn’t one of their most passionate, but it wasn’t as chaste ss Ali usually kept things in public either. “Too bad” she mumbled against her keeper’s lips after the kiss and grinned.

“I’ll make it up to you later” the blonde winked before turning around and introducing everyone to her beautiful wife.

Ali hadn’t accompanied Ashlyn to Israel and hadn’t met any of the former players before, aside from bumping into them at NWSL championship weeks or draft weekends or promotional events where there was usually just time for a quick smile and nod and not much else. They all chatted over the dinner the producers had brought in and tried to get the newcomers caught up on the behind the scenes shenanigans from the previous two weeks of the tournament. Ali hadn’t been the only spouse to fly in that day. Lucy Bronze’s wife, Keira Walsh, had only arrived at the stadium an hour before the brunette. After dinner it was go-time again for the pundits and commentators while the families and friends hung out in a nearby suite to watch the second quarterfinal game. Ali struggled to keep her eyes open after not getting nearly enough sleep on the plane. She resorted to a caffeine drink to try and make it through the second half and just barely managed to stay awake. Keira Walsh was in the same predicament and they promised to try and help each other as best they could.

“You ready to go sugarplum?” Ashlyn squatted next to the arm of the couch in the green room when she was finally done with the postgame show. 

The keeper’s voice was soft and low because Ali’s eyes were closed as she sat there with her chin in her hand leaning her elbow on the armrest and her head against the wall next to her. She looked beautiful, even in repose, and Ashlyn hated to wake her up but knew the good night’s sleep she needed wasn’t going to happen until they made it back to the hotel. The brunette’s eyes fluttered open and she pulled her head away from the wall and tried to sit up straight.

“Yep. Ready. MmmHmmm” she licked her lips and breathed deeply a few times as she tried to snap out of her brief nap.

“Aw, you’re so tired baby” Ashlyn cooed as she took her wife’s hand and stood up. She offered her other hand and helped the brunette to her feet. “Let’s get back to the hotel so you can go to bed...”

“No, no” Ali forced her eyes open even wider and looked alarmed at the idea. “You go out and have your fun. I’m sorry I can’t stay awake honey. I tried so hard...”

“It’s ok” Ashlyn chuckled as she put her arm around the brunette’s waist and steered her towards the door. She pressed a kiss into her cheek, loving how soft Ali’s skin was against her lips. “I’m sick and tired of all those people anyway. I’d much rather hang out with you.”

Ali knew she was fibbing. The broadcast team always went out for at least a quick drink after the 7pm games, even if it was just back at the hotel. She tried to protest but couldn’t get her mouth to work as well as even her half-speed brain.

“But...”

“No buts. Let’s go get my sleeping beauty into bed.”

//

Ashlyn was eager to make up for last year’s vacation to Hong Kong during the Olympics when she had been sidelined by food poisoning. Ali had told her a million times that there was no need to redeem herself. She had enjoyed her time in Hong Kong even if the first half of it had been as nursemaid to her ailing wife. Some of the brunette’s fondest memories of their early relationship had been taking care of the keeper after her shoulder surgery. She couldn’t imagine a time when pampering Ashlyn and giving her extra TLC would be a burden – especially if there were no children or dogs or other obligations pulling at her time.

But it didn’t matter how many times Ali said that to Ashlyn, the keeper could not be convinced. She liked to be a good host when Ali came and met her for one of their working vacations. That was true whether the brunette came solo or with the kids. Ashlyn wanted to have the area sussed out so she could act as some sort of low-level tour guide at least. It was her chivalrous side coming out. Switzerland felt more familiar to the blonde too, certainly more familiar than Hong Kong, but even England too. Ashlyn realized, the more she thought about it, that Switzerland felt that way because it reminded her of Germany. The Southwestern part where they were now, Geneva, definitely felt more French than German but she had been to the other cities in the tournament and knew that Geneva was the exception. She couldn’t wait to get Ali up North. Ashlyn felt like a kid trying to wait to show someone special the present she had made for them with her own hands.

They had both pulled off some grand gestures over the years, even Ali who still claimed a lack of skill in that area. As soon as the birthday cake surprise had been ruined in Hong Kong, Ashlyn had been planning something else, something better. She had to let Ali in on the planning of their Switzerland vacation because there were too many options of things to do and they needed to limit their choices because of their short working vacation time. Switzerland may not have been a big country but there were a million different things to do. They wisely agreed to let the geography of Ashlyn’s work itinerary guide their own travel for the three days they had off – Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. They had been forced to lock in their decisions early because it was such a busy tourist season that they needed to make reservations in the early Spring. That all helped Ashlyn plan her grandest gesture of them all. But that wouldn’t happen until Monday night. As eager as the keeper was to share her surprise with Ali, she wanted to make sure the brunette was relaxed and deep into vacation mode so it had maximum effect. That had turned out to be the most difficult decision – do it Sunday night or wait one more day for Monday night and a better-rested wife?

“This is the car we got?” Ali’s jaw dropped when they stepped outside their hotel in Geneva after checking out Sunday morning. “Are you kidding me?” she flashed Ashlyn a big grin.

“I am not kidding you” the keeper grinned back, just as excited as her wife.

Lake Geneva was one of the largest lakes in Western Europe and was also one of the most popular tourist destinations in Switzerland. It was shaped like a croissant with the rounded part at the top, to the North, and the two ends pointed down, to the South. The busy metropolis of Geneva was at the bottom of the left end of the croissant, on the Westernmost edge of the lake. The border between Switzerland and Italy ran roughly across the middle of the lake from West to East, splitting it in half, although technically it was mostly owned by the Swiss. One of the most beautiful drives in the world was the leisurely one you could take around Lake Geneva, or Lac Leman as the French called it in that interesting little corner of French-speaking Switzerland. The popular and beautiful town of Montreux was at the other, right end of the croissant, but not quite as far South as Geneva was on the left side. Montreux was most famous for the jazz festival it had hosted every year since 1967 but it was an enchanting locale in its own right. The drive around the northern coast of the lake, from Geneva to Montreux, would only take 2-1/2 hours if you did it fast, with no stops. But that was practically sacrilege. Instead, you took your time and made frequent stops at the small, scenic towns and villages along the way. The area was also known as the Swiss Riviera because of the microclimate they enjoyed there around the Northern side of the lake. Those mountains that confounded so many weather prognosticators through time also created cool things like the mild, almost Mediterranean climate Ali and Ashlyn would enjoy for the next two days of their vacation. High temperatures in the low-80s, dry air, and low temperatures in the mid-60’s were ideal in almost every traveler’s opinion. 

They had plotted out a place to stop and stay Sunday night before continuing their drive to Montreux on Monday. Other than ending Sunday in Lausanne, 38 miles away from Geneva and approximately halfway around the North side of the lake, the Kriegers had chosen to play the rest of the day by ear, stopping wherever and whenever the spirit moved them. Because Europe was amazing, there were companies and groups that catered to your trip through the Swiss Riviera. One of those was a rental car company that specialized in fancy cars that you could rent in Geneva for a day or two or three and drop off in Montreux when you were done with your tour. There were incredible hotels that offered the same level of service and made Lake Geneva simple and sumptuous for travelers. For example, the hotel Cornavin in Geneva would be sending Ali and Ashlyn’s luggage up to the hotel they had reserved in Lausanne for that night. And that hotel would do the same thing the next day to the hotel in Montreux. It was something so simple, but it made the entire day that much easier and more relaxing without having to worry about fitting your suitcases into the fancy convertible you had rented and then stressing about keeping track of them while you were off exploring one of the quaint towns along the way. It was all so very civilized. It wasn’t free though, not by a longshot. But this type of indulgence was exactly the luxury that Ali and Ashlyn liked to splurge on. They didn’t splurge that often, but when they did, it was almost always during their travels.

“This is unreal” Ali shook her head and smiled as she took in the sexy, black, Jaguar F-type Cabriolet shining in the morning sun.

“Do you wanna drive?” Ashlyn grinned at her wife and motioned to the sleek 2-seater, convertible sportscar with the top already down.

“Yes” Ali nodded, still smiling. “But you go first. We have this tomorrow too, right?”

“We do.”

Ashlyn chivalrously guided her wife to the passenger side of the car and helped her in. She was struck by how beautiful her brunette looked in her casually stylish vacation wear. She had upgraded her summer go-to athletic shorts to simple but classic stretch poplin, mid-thigh shorts, in pale pink. It was the Swiss Riviera after all. Ali wore a white, cotton tank top with a pretty floral pattern across the front of it, and a loose, light blue, long-sleeve, linen button up shirt that she would shed as soon as the temperature went up a few degrees. She put her hair up in a tight bun so she could enjoy the convertible without getting whipped in the face by her brunette locks. She was glad she had chosen her favorite light blue stud earrings instead of the dangly silver ones, for the same reason. Her wedding ring set was the only other jewelry she wore that day, hoping the weather wouldn’t be too hot. Ali’s life-long powerful metabolism caused her to sweat a lot, which was great for her body, but not always great for staying cool in the summer. Part of the reason she didn’t wear a lot of jewelry was because it aggravated her skin when she got hot and sweaty. If she did wear it, she ended up taking it off after an hour or so and then she ran the risk of losing it. Comfy hiking sandals, sunglasses, a medium-sized batik purse, and a bright smile completed her outfit. 

“Then you go for it, babe. Take me for a ride” Ali flirted and giggled as her wife shut the car door for her with a wink. 

Ashlyn had paired a crisp, orange polo shirt with navy blue pin-striped seersucker shorts that were a little bit longer than Ali’s shorts but didn’t go all the way to her knees. She wore a pair of comfy but fresh Vans on her feet, stylish sunglasses on her grinning face, and she had one of her favorite fedoras tucked under her seat, ready to go on her head any time they got out of the car. Her shaggy blonde hair had been coiffed lightly that morning with just enough styling gel to give it some shape and keep it from looking like a mop. She knew she’d be wearing her hat when they were out of the car so there was no need to do too much with it. The big silver watch on her wrist flashed in the bright morning sunlight as the keeper settled into the driver’s seat of the sports car. She wore a short, medium-thick, silver chain around her neck that was visible behind the open collar of her polo shirt. Four different rings, in addition to her wedding set, graced her long fingers and she had added a small touch of whimsy to the outfit that was all her – a pair of silver shark earrings dangled below her ears, very close to her earlobes so they wouldn’t be whipping around too much in the wind. It was just the kind of thing that always made Ali love her so damned much. Here was badass Ashlyn Michelle Harris Krieger driving a fucking Jaguar around swanky Lake Geneva in the stylish Swiss Riviera and looking nothing like the other tourists. But just when you thought she was too cool, maybe even pretentious, for her own good, she wore a pair of shark earrings just to remind you that she knew she was still just a girl from Satellite Beach, Florida. 

Ashlyn had slept like a baby last night, with Ali finally back in her bed. The brunette had passed out as soon as her head hit the pillow, but Ashlyn didn’t mind. It was more than enough to be able to hold her and spoon her for their first night together. Now, as they started their drive around the lake, Ali reached across the console between their bucket seats and held onto her wife’s thigh. The sports car was more compact than the other vehicles that they were used to driving and the brunette was thrilled that Ashlyn was closer to her than usual. Instead of having to lean and stretch to reach her keeper’s leg with just her fingers, she could comfortably rest her entire hand on top of Ashlyn’s thigh. She let her fingers move softly and slowly, squeezing and patting the inside of the blonde’s thigh from time to time. Ali wasn’t purposefully trying to tease her, she was just enjoying the contact and letting her hand do what it wanted without any real thought behind it at all.

“Can you believe how incredible this is?” she turned her head towards Ashlyn so she could hear the question after gazing at the stunning view of Lake Geneva for the first 10 minutes of the drive up Route 1.

“I always forget how beautiful it is over here” the keeper replied with a glance to her right at her wife and the lake behind her. “I was so shocked the first time I went to Germany. I don’t know exactly what I expected but it sure wasn’t anything like this.”

“I know, right?” the brunette agreed with a grin. “Everybody always thinks of Germany and I guess most of Europe as kind of dark and dismal. But it’s some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen.”

“The lake is something else” Ashlyn nodded towards it and smiled back at her wife. “I haven’t been able to stop staring at it since I got here.”

Lake Geneva was a wondrous sight to behold and both women were mesmerized by the clear blue sky, the luscious green mountains, and the pristine water that reflected it all back in a glorious cascade of vibrant, shimmering color. The Lake water could be any number of different shades of blue-green from Mediterranean turquoise to intense bright azul to deep forest green and everything in between. It felt like they were watching a moving masterpiece - a living, breathing picture painted by God herself. 

The little towns and villages they drove through and stopped at along the way were just as picturesque and Ashlyn was surprised that they didn’t all just look the same. Each place they stopped that morning was unique and somehow managed to bring its own magic to the scene. There was the lush but tiny botanical garden in Chambesy and the small museum full of Roman antiquities tucked away in the winding streets of Nyon. Ali had the toughest decision of the morning to make and Ashlyn didn’t envy her one bit. Take a tour of the Castle in Rolle, the Chateau de Rolle, or hit some golf balls at the only public course on the lake in nearby Saint-Prex. Their days were mapped out in three sections - Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. They gave themselves a landing spot and an approximate time to reach it each day so they were sure to see some of the things they had already researched and planned for. Sunday they had to be in Morges by lunchtime so they could continue on to their afternoon event before finally ending up in Lausanne for the evening.

“I can’t decide” Ali whined as they stood outside the medieval castle, built in 1264, in Rolle. She had a small guidebook in her hand, the page folded down for the golf course, and a conflicted face as she frowned.

“Well, we can do both but then we’ll miss the tour this afternoon...”

“No, I don’t wanna miss that” the brunette shook her head definitively. She paused for another minute and then nodded. “Let’s just walk around the outside, real quick, and then we can go right to Saint-Prex without stopping.”

Ashlyn grinned and put her hat back on her head in the mid-morning sun. The diplomatic resolution didn’t surprise her one bit. “Let’s do it then” she patted Ali’s butt as they started to speedwalk around the grounds of the castle.

After hitting those golf balls they made it to Morges by 12:30pm, only 15 minutes later than they had planned. The town was full of cafes and pastisseries and dozens of little shops all on cobblestone streets. It was well-known in the area for having one of the best artisanal markets on the weekends and that was why the Kriegers had planned their lunch stop around it. They could have roamed the quaint streets for hours and been overjoyed with the afternoon spent that way, but they didn’t. They took their time and found the artisanal market, sampling and buying several small savory and sweet snacks along the way. They skipped the wine shops because Ashlyn knew that she would never get Ali out of them once they went in. The picnic rental service they had planned on was located down by the lake, on the edge of a beautiful park. Ali and Ashlyn paid for their basket, and blanket and half bottle of wine, and filled it up with their goodies from the market. They strolled hand-in-hand down to the edge of the lake and enjoyed one of the most romantic picnic lunches of their lives – despite the presence of so many other couples and families doing the same thing. 

“Here, try this one” Ali held a cracker out with one of the four different cheeses they bought spread on top of it. “Wait...” she snatched it back as Ashlyn leaned forward with her mouth open. The brunette added a thin blob of pate on top of the cheese while her wife chuckled at how excited she was about their market finds. “Ok, now try it” Ali held the cracker out again and this time the keeper only went half the distance and kept her mouth closed with one eyebrow quirked.

“Are you sure? It’s ready now?” she teased the brunette.

“Oh stop” Ali giggled and leaned closer, moving the cracker right to her wife’s still-closed mouth. “Open up.” 

Ashlyn couldn’t help but smile at the beauty in front of her. Ali was radiating joy and happiness and the keeper didn’t think she had ever looked more beautiful. Ashlyn cocked her head and blinked adoringly at her wife as they sat close together, each one leaning on one hand behind them with all of their picnic goodies laid out in front of them.

“What?” Ali asked softly, but she knew the feeling. She felt the same way, like a lovestruck teenager who was just discovering what it was like to be in love.

“You’re beautiful, and I love you” Ashlyn replied just as softly.

It was hot in the midday sun and they were both sweating a little bit. Ashlyn tilted her head, careful not to hit her beautiful brunette with the brim of her hat, and brought their lips together in a soft, sweet kiss. Ali hummed into it and deepened it just a bit, feeling safe behind the privacy of the fedora.

“I love you too, babe.”

//

The rest of the afternoon, after they completed their drive to Lausanne and checked into their hotel, was dedicated to a tour of several local vineyards and wineries. They had purchased their tickets in advance for the open-sided trolley that carried them, and the rest of the 20-person tour group, up the sloping hillside behind the city and were not disappointed by any part of the experience. Lausanne was a university city and very modern but slow-paced and chic at the same time. There were gothic cathedrals, more cobblestone streets, and boutiques, art galleries and bars set in 13th century buildings and old monasteries. Lausanne was the fourth largest city in Switzerland but Ali and Ashlyn didn’t see very much of it. The places on their short list of stops they never made after the 3-hour wine tour included the International Olympic Committee Headquarters and museum, the Museum of Photography, and L’Art Brut – the Museum of Raw Art. Some of the greatest artists and poets the world had ever known had spent time in the beautiful lakeside city and Ashlyn and Ali made time to visit a bookstore dedicated to the great poets who had been inspired there. Shelley, Byron, Voltaire, Rousseau, T.S. Eliot, and Hemingway, just to name a few, had written lines while gazing at the same views that tourists still enjoyed that very day. It was almost 6pm by the time they stumbled back to their hotel, still tipsy after their wine tour. The spur of the moment plan had been to rest in their room and read poetry to each other for an hour before heading back into the city for dinner. They only got through a poem and a half before they were both fast asleep, exhausted from a full day spent in the summer sun.

“Let’s just stay here for the rest of the night” Ali mumbled as she nuzzled into her wife’s neck on the enormous bed in their luxurious hotel room.

Their room in the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel was opulent, to say the least, with a balcony overlooking the lake and the Alps. There were big windows and very high ceilings to remind them that they were staying in a room that had been used by royalty at some point in the long, complicated history of the area. Ashlyn thought the room looked like it had come right out of one of the Newport mansions they had toured a few years earlier. Ali couldn’t disagree. They were both having trouble waking up from their nap and getting off the bed. They had purposely stayed fully clothed when they climbed on top of the bed to enjoy their poems, but nothing could have prevented them from falling asleep. In addition to the busy day full of activities, Ashlyn always got sleepy when she drank wine and Ali was still dealing with her jet lag. The keeper congratulated herself on deciding to do Ali’s big grand gesture surprise Monday night instead of Sunday night.

“We can, if you want to” Ashlyn yawned and stretched and then pulled her wife in even closer, letting her hands rub her back and side as they snuggled together. “This place is famous for its food. We can just do room service instead of going down to the brasserie.”

“Really?” Ali’s eyes fluttered all the way open and she got up on one elbow and studied her keeper’s face. 

The brunette knew all about the hotel because she had been the one who had done most of the research for the trip. She wasn’t surprised by that information. She was intrigued by the possibility of staying in their gorgeous room instead of going back out. She had to be sure Ashlyn was really ok with that though.

“Are you being serious?” she asked as she looked down into her favorite tawny hazel eyes.

“I am” Ashlyn nodded but then got nervous for a second, afraid she was messing something up or disappointing the brunette somehow. “Unless you don’t want me to be...” she hedged her bet.

“No” Ali chuckled and leaned down for kiss. “There’s not a right answer, silly.”

“Are you sure?” Ashlyn squinted as she gazed up at her wife. “It feels like there’s at least a wrong answer here...”

“No, there’s not” Ali giggled and stretched as she flopped onto her back next to the blonde. “I promise. I just want to know what you really want to do. If you want to go out let’s do that...”

“But what do YOU wanna do tonight sugarplum?” Ashlyn rolled onto her side to face her wife. She admired Ali’s body as she gently slid her fingers from the brunette’s shoulder down to her knee and back up again, allowing Ali to take her hand in her own hands and play with it on her stomach as they talked.

“Honey, I wanna do whatever you wanna do. We hit golf balls and did a whole wine tour for me today. Tonight should be all you. Every minute of it.”

“Well, when you put it that way...” Ashlyn grinned as she watched Ali lift their hands to her lips and tenderly kiss the keeper’s knuckles one at a time.

“But whatever we do, we’ve gotta eat first” Ali turned her head to show her wife how serious she was. “I’m gonna get hangry pretty soon.”

“Oh well we can’t have that” Ashlyn scooted closer, pulling her body up tight to the brunette’s side and throwing her leg over her hips and her arm across her torso. She pressed a kiss into Ali’s bare shoulder and smiled into the soft, smooth skin she had access to thanks to the tank top.

“Babe...” Ali blinked slowly and smiled back at her wife. “Please feed me. Then you can have your way with me, all night long.”

“All night long huh” Ashlyn smirked and then laughed. “Don’t be making promises you can’t keep now, woman.”

“I never said I’d be awake all night” Ali laughed back. “But you’re resourceful, I know you’ll figure something out.”

The truth was they were both more than ready to spend some time together in their favorite way - naked and in love. Their day had been wonderful and they had both loved being close as they drove and walked and explored the Swiss Riviera together. They held hands whenever they could and stayed in physical contact for almost the entire day. It had been intimate in a way they had definitely been missing during their EUROs separation. Now they were ready for more. A lot more. Ashlyn wouldn’t admit it, but she was a little upset that they had planned their vacation so full because she would love nothing more than to spend the whole 3 days off together in that very hotel room.

They rallied and held it together while they took turns showering. Ashlyn ordered room service while the brunette was in the bathroom and Ali called home and checked on the kids while her keeper took her turn. They ate a delicious dinner out on their balcony in shorts and t-shirts, only regretting their choice of attire when it was time to capture photos of the lake and the sunset, just after 9pm. It was hard to believe the whole evening was already gone but that’s what happened when you napped for an hour at 6:30pm. Neither woman complained much though, about anything. They both felt light and carefree and relaxed as they sat together in the most comfortable chaise lounge either of them had ever experienced. Ali sat in front of Ashlyn, between her legs as usual, and leaned back resting her head against her keeper’s shoulder. They were quiet as they watched the horizon grow dimmer and dimmer. 

Ali loved the way her love’s heart beat strongly behind her. She could feel it right through her back and was sure her own heart would synch up with it given enough time in that position. Ashlyn loved the weight and feel of her wife, the woman of her dreams, resting against her chest. She wrapped her arms around the brunette’s body and let her play with her long fingers as they silently watched the lake go from evening to night in the span of half an hour or so. The keeper couldn’t help but think of the way Josie had the same habit of playing with the hands and fingers of the person she was sitting on, or laying on. Ashlyn missed her kids a lot and she couldn’t wait to see them in another 8 days. But she wasn’t going to be thinking much about them that night. She had other things on her mind. Things that predated her kids. Things from a whole other lifetime when it had been just the two of them, she and her beautiful brunette.

It wasn’t long after the darkness settled around them, punctuated only by the lights coming on as the city awoke for the nighttime, before hands started to wander and hearts began to beat faster and breathing turned hot and heavy. The comfortable chaise lounge was too restrictive and confined for what both Ashlyn and Ali wanted to do so they moved inside, fingers linked until they got to the big bed. They made out slowly at first but it quickly became desperate as their lips got a taste of what had been missing for two full weeks. Neither woman said very much as they hurried to take their clothes off, kissing and touching as much as possible during the exercise. It made the task take longer but they just weren’t willing to stop the contact, not even for a minute. In a way the whole day had been a kind of foreplay for them. Ashlyn could feel the spot on her inner thigh where her wife’s fingers had spent so much time that day while they were in the car. She was sure that if she looked down she would see some sort of burn mark there from the low-level heat that had transferred between them for so many hours that day. And Ali’s whole body reacted to every sweet, romantic gesture that her keeper showered her with all day long. Every time Ashlyn held a door open for her, or helped her into or out of the car, or stole a sweet kiss as they walked around quaint little towns, Ali felt the ache inside her grow stronger and more focused.

They rolled around together, luxurious sheets feeling almost as good as their own naked skin as they slid hands and mouths everywhere they could reach. It was hard to get out of the clinch they were in long enough so they could get fingers into soft, sensitive places that would take them where they really needed to go. As soon as one of them would make the break and start to move down towards the promised land, the other would pull them right back into another clinging embrace. It got to the point where they were so worked up it was painful, but they were still unable to separate enough.

Finally, Ashlyn used her strength to get the upper hand and pinned the brunette flat on her back against the mattress. She pressed her palm into Ali’s chest and held her in place while she let her lips travel down to German letters and an extra-sensitive, wave-covered spot.

“Awww...” Ali whined, still breathless from all the kissing and tantalizing touching. She pouted at the perceived loss but then moaned approvingly when she felt her wife’s right hand slide between her legs. “Mmmmmmm...” the brunette kept her own hands moving through Ashlyn’s hair and across her back and shoulders, opening her own legs wide and bending them at the knees in anticipation. “Oh fuck...yessss...” she groaned when she felt her keeper’s breast drag down over her mound and across her already swollen clit. “Fuck yes...”

“Stay there” Ashlyn instructed with a warning look into darkening, chocolate eyes. “I mean it” she cautioned again before letting her left hand move from one gorgeous breast to the other. Both of her hands were worshipping the desired areas of Ali’s body and she felt, for a brief moment, overwhelmed by the sensation at her fingertips. “Jesus Christ...” she whimpered and put her lips back on her wife’s hot skin with a shudder that Ali felt.

“You ok...babe...?” Ali gasped out as she felt her whole body react to that shudder. Her heart skipped a beat, her passion gushed between her legs, and her clit ached as she tried to stay focused enough to hear Ashlyn’s answer. “Babe?”

“No” Ashlyn shook her shaggy head as it continued to move lower and lower. “But I will be...soon...” her tongue swirled across the top of Ali’s entrance, already filled with two long fingers that were slowly moving in and out and trying not to rush too fast. “Mmmmmm...” the keeper groaned, overwhelmed again by her wife’s gorgeous body and all of the sexy fucking things it did when they had sex.

The way Ali’s nipples were getting harder and harder, even though they were already stiff points under Ashlyn’s fingertips. The way her hips rose up to meet her keeper’s mouth as it slowly circled her clit. The way her silky walls pulsed and grabbed at her fingers while they worked in and out and up into her g-spot. The way her legs couldn’t stay still no matter what – bending and flexing and flopping from side to side. The way her chest rose and fell rapidly and her back arched up off the bed when Ashlyn found a particularly sensitive spot with her tongue. The way her hands moved slowly but steadily from Ashlyn’s hair to her forearm by her stomach to her shoulder near her thigh to her own breast and then back to her keeper’s hair again. Ashlyn loved Ali’s body, and loved worshipping it this way, and loved the way it responded to her every touch.

“Oh my God...unnhhh...Ash...yes!...mmmmm...yes...” the brunette sounded woozy as her head lolled from side to side as she got closer and closer to her release.

“Yeah baby...” the keeper mumbled into her wife’s swollen bundle of nerves. “Jesus fucking Christ...” she panted out before sucking hard on Ali’s clit and making her squeal in delight.

“Yessss!!” Ali gripped her wife’s head with both hands and held it right there. She started to grind against Ashlyn’s face as she chased her orgasm which they both knew was only minutes away.

Ashlyn moaned and hummed her own excitement right back into her wife’s clit as she upped the pace and pressure with her right hand inside her pussy. The keeper was in heaven. So much of Ali all around her, her body moving beneath her and next to her, the incredible scent and taste of her juices as she kept getting wetter and wetter. The brunette was bouncing and jiggling with the pumping from her keeper’s right arm and Ashlyn had a hard time getting to both nipples in all the excitement. She decided to focus on just one at a time while she put her tongue to work, flicking as fast and hard as she could across Ali’s swollen clit.

“Mmm...yes...yes...oh God...yes...don’t stop baby...fuck yes...mmmm...” Ali chanted as she felt her orgasm only seconds away. “Oh my God...” she said quietly as she brought a hand up to tug on the nipple Ashlyn had abandoned. “Yessssssssss!!!!!” 

She yelled louder than she meant to as she came hard. Her body tensed and then released into a twitching, shaking mess of limbs and exclamations. One leg shot out hard and fast but Ashlyn had been doing this long enough to know what to expect. 

“That’s right baby...my beautiful queen...so fucking gorgeous...mmmm...” the keeper purred slowly into her wife’s pussy, letting her fingers slow down but keeping them inside the way Ali liked. She licked the inside of her upper thighs and breathed in deeply. “Oh my God do I love making you come.”

Ali panted and tried to catch her breath as her body quaked through a few small aftershocks. She relaxed her grip in Ashlyn’s hair and stroked the blonde locks with one hand while reaching down and clasping her keeper’s free hand with the other. Her heart was racing and she still felt dazed in the best possible way. She wasn’t even sure her mouth would work yet, but she wanted to try. 

“Ash...” she husked out between gasps for air. “That was...wow...” she swallowed hard and tried to take a deeper breath. “So good babe...” she opened her eyes and met her wife’s, still between her legs. “So fucking good.”

They stayed like that for another few minutes until Ali could take her turn and bring her keeper over the edge. They were both sated but unwilling to stop touching each other. It was the beginning of what they both hoped would be a long night of lovemaking. It had been a while since they had woken up with sexy time hangovers and they both should have been looking forward to it. But Ashlyn was trying to temper things just a bit. She had plans for the two of them the next night in Montreux and she didn’t want Ali to regret anything tonight that might impact the way she looked or felt the following night. After a more leisurely round 2 the keeper was hoping things might come to a natural conclusion. Ali was still tired – the nap had helped but not cured her jet lag. Ashlyn was about to suggest a soothing massage to try and get her girl to start to wind down, but the brunette beat her to the punch.

“Are you tired yet?”

“Yeah, I am” Ashlyn lied just a bit. “Aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but...” Ali paused and bit her bottom lip and the keeper felt her heart pang at the adorable but still sexy face. There was a shy look in the brunette’s eyes as she took a big breath and blew out her hesitation. “Can you stay up just a little while longer?”

Ashlyn’s heart melted at the sweet request. “Of course baby, anything for you” she replied sincerely, without thinking about trying to get Ali to go to sleep.

Ali leaned over and gave her a soft, slow kiss before getting out of the big bed and crossing to her suitcase. Ashlyn watched carefully, propping herself up with another pillow under her head and admiring the way her wife’s ass was still in such incredible shape. Ali had just turned 49 and her body was starting to show the signs of aging they all went through, occasional grey pubic hairs included. But her backside was amazing because she worked hard to keep it that way. Ashlyn made sure to appreciate it every chance she got, and then some. She was so distracted by her thoughts of her wife’s butt that she didn’t notice what Ali had dug out of her suitcase until she was already back, kneeling on the bed next to her with an excited, expectant look on her beautiful face.

“Can I wrap you up?” Ali swallowed her shyness again. “Please?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't be able to post another chapter until Sunday night at the earliest, maybe not until Monday. I'm on kid duty tomorrow and then driving to NJ for the Pride at Sky Blue game on Sunday. Sorry.  
> I hope it's a good game and the Pride don't just roll over like they did in the last game of last season in NJ. That was awful. But this year's team doesn't seem like they're gonna do that. They might not make the playoffs, but they might just win a couple of these last few games. We'll see. I'm hoping Sydney Leroux and Toni Pressley make it back to the pitch like Coach Skinner suggested. Fingers crossed. Have a great weekend everybody!


	32. EUROs Switzerland 2033 - Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut warning at the beginning.

“Can I wrap you up?” Ali swallowed her shyness again. “Please?”

It was Ashlyn’s turn to swallow hard as she felt her heart soar and her pussy throb at the same time. She couldn’t imagine any circumstance where she would ever say anything but yes to that question. She reached for her wife’s thigh and rubbed it softly as she nodded her approval before she could get her mouth to work again.

“Yes” the keeper’s voice had a little quaver in it that revealed her eagerness even though she was trying to play it cool. “Hell yes.”

Ali leaned forward and kissed her wife deeply, letting their tongues dance slowly together. Ashlyn’s other hand found the brunette’s breast and fondled it gently, knowing nothing was going to happen quickly now. They made out this way for several minutes, as if they were telling their bodies that there was a different experience coming their way. 

“Where do you want me?” Ashlyn asked huskily after they pulled back for a breath. Her eyes were lidded already between the making out and the anticipation of feeling her wife’s hands all over her body. “Should I lie down again?”

“Can I try something...different this time?” Ali asked, her voice sounding more confident as she leaned back and studied her wife’s slightly flushed face.

“Anything Al” Ashlyn nodded seriously. “I mean it. I trust you.”

“Up until now, we’ve only kind of messed around with the wraps, or ropes is the official name, but I like wraps better” the brunette smiled as she pictured her gorgeous keeper covered in the soft purple ribbons she currently held in her hands.

“Ok...” Ashlyn couldn’t keep the smile off of her face as she listened intently to her wife. 

One of the keeper’s favorite things in the whole world was watching and listening to Ali tell her about something she loved. Ashlyn could think back to a few dozen times the brunette had patiently explained the history of something the keeper knew very little or nothing about. The Gardner Museum was the most obvious example, but there were so many more – Alfred Hitchcock, using chopsticks, the Newport mansions, driving in the snow, architecture, golfing, the list went on and on. It didn’t matter what the subject was, she was enthralled as her beautiful brunette shared her joy and love for whatever it was.

“What?” Ali was self-conscious for a second.

“Nothing” Ashlyn shook her head, smile still on her face. “I just love you. You’re gorgeous and sexy and adorable and perfect.”

They blinked at each other and shared a sweet moment before more carnal desires crept back into play. Ashlyn patted her wife’s thigh and gave it a squeeze to let her know she was ready for whatever the brunette had in store. The keeper’s voice was full of love and patience as she spoke.

“Tell me what you want me to do.”

Ali took a big breath and tried not to talk too fast. She knew that would be a tough one because she was so excited to share what she had learned in her online wrapping course with the sexy blonde that she felt like she was going to burst.

There were 8 classes and it was designed to take 2 months to complete but Ali and Sydney had found it challenging to get private time together to take the classes. Instead of 2 months it had taken them almost 5 months. They started in January and didn’t finish until halfway through May. They finally started meeting after work at Ali’s office in Cambridge where they had good, secure wifi and a door that locked. Ali hadn’t even had a chance to dazzle Ashlyn with any of her new techniques yet. She and Sydney had learned about the history of Japanese rope binding but mainly focused on mastering some of the specific types of ties and binds. Kinbaku, sometimes also called Shibari, was the ancient Japanese art of rope binding, or bondage tying. Kinbakushi or Shibari Masters used thin, rough ropes, usually about ¼” thick, to tightly bind their partners. The patterns used in that binding had simple concepts at their core but usually involved very intricate knots and twists for some of the more advanced designs. In Japan, Kinbaku was viewed as art and wasn’t seen as something scandalous like it was in the Western world.

Japanese bondage was more about the way the rope was applied, and the pleasure was more in the journey than the destination. Ali loved that part of it. She was intrigued by the aesthetics and beauty of the process. She also loved the finished product – a beautiful Ashlyn wrapped up with soft, sexy ribbons. That was the crucial distinction for Ali and many other fans of the practice. True Kinbaku involved pain and discomfort. The ropes were rough and thin and tight and the partner was often bound in uncomfortable, restrictive poses. It was much more hardcore BDSM. That wasn’t what Ali was looking for and she had initially moved away from her growing interest when she thought that was the only possibility. But there was an offshoot of the practice that focused more on the artistic, sensual, erotic elements of the bondage than anything else. Instead of rough ropes you used soft, sexy ribbons and focused on the tactile, sensual experience of tying your lover up. There was no pain involved. 

BDSM purists naturally looked down on the more lightweight version of the practice, but Ali didn’t care about that. All she cared about was what Ashlyn thought of her new interest. Nothing else. Thankfully that offshoot of Kinbaku had grown in popularity to the point that a couple of companies manufactured the silky ribbons or wraps that Ali had been buying. Without those wraps, in different widths and lengths, the brunette didn’t know what she would have done. 

“Sometimes it’s called Kinbaku and sometimes it’s called Shibari and, trust me when I tell you, there’s no right answer” Ali chuckled as she stood up on her knees on the bed in front of her wife. “Face me, like this” she instructed the blonde to mirror her position and continued talking as they got ready. “We don’t have to worry about it though because technically we’re not doing either.”

“We’re not?”

Ali shook her head and raked her eyes down Ashlyn’s body and back up again. “Nope. To be real Kinbaku or Shibari there has to be effective restraint. That’s a key part of it and I’m not interested in that.”

“What does that even mean?” Ashlyn asked as she watched her wife carefully start to twist the purple ribbon so it was thinner and more rope-like.

“Pain, basically” Ali shrugged and began sliding the twisted wrap behind the blonde’s neck. “It’s the bondage part of it, the BDSM stuff.”

“And we just do the pretty stuff, right?” Ashlyn grinned and then held her breath as the brunette’s fingers turned and tied the twisted wrap two or three more times at the back of her neck and then let it dangle straight down her back. The gentle touches felt so good and her skin was alive and excited.

“That’s right” Ali brought their lips together in another kiss, not as passionate as before but still a slow, lingering kiss. “I wanna make you feel good, sexy. As good as I possibly can.”

Ashlyn felt her core twitch at the kiss and the sultry words her wife had delivered with maximum desire in her voice. The keeper stared at Ali’s face as the brunette reached between her legs and pulled the twisted wrap through to the front, making sure to graze the back of her hand through Ashlyn’s folds along the way.

“We’ve done mostly shinju wraps so far, with some random things I just made up” Ali explained as she continued to weave the rope up her wife’s front and through the small loop she had created near the hollow of her throat. “Shinju means ‘binding the pearls’” she smirked and gently squeezed both of Ashlyn’s breasts on her way back down to repeat the maneuver but in reverse, going backwards through the keeper’s legs.

“Shinju...I like that” Ashlyn smirked and tried to lean into her wife’s hand for more contact but Ali just patted her and kept working with a wanton wink. “Binding the pearls” she repeated slowly and nodded, “I like that a lot.”

“Good, I’m glad” Ali laughed quietly and rewarded her girl with an open-mouthed kiss to the side of her breast. “Mmmmm...” she forced herself to pull her lips away so she could keep going on the new pattern she had perfected with Sydney. This was so much better with Ashlyn. In every way. “We’re doing a karada tonight. Hopefully” she chuckled.

“What’s a karada now?” Ashlyn looked over her shoulder and watched her wife add a second twisted wrap to the endeavor with a mixture of lust and pride. It was clear to her that Ali had done a lot of research and practice on her new kink.

“It means ‘binding the body’ and it’s what we call the patterns that cover your whole torso instead of just your beautiful boobs” Ali let her mouth find the flowers on Ashlyn’s left side and gave the flesh there a soft suck and a little nibble. “This is just a basic one. Some of them can cover your whole body and take hours to do.”

“Oooh, that sounds cool, but I’m not sure I could wait that long...”

“Me either babe” Ali met the hungry gaze in the hazel eyes and squeezed Ashlyn’s thigh. “I know you don’t usually do basic, but you’re gonna have to trust me on this tonight.”

“I do” Ashlyn took a deep steadying breath as her skin started to feel like it was on fire from all the intimate touches. The wraps felt sexy on her skin and Ali’s hands even sexier. The keeper felt her head spin at how turned on she was already. “Just out of curiosity though...how far along would you say we are in this...karada?”

Ali smiled when she heard her keeper using the correct word. Ashlyn had always tried to learn about the things she was interested in, just as Ali had always done the same with Ashlyn’s hobbies and interests. The Japanese wrapping was no different.

“Hmmm...I’d say about 1/3 of the way” she replied as she added a third twisted ribbon through the loop near Ashlyn’s throat and pulled it around behind her back in a way that lifted her breast up just a bit. “Why? Got someplace else to be?” the brunette smirked.

“No way” Ashlyn chuckled, but it was easy to hear the want mixed into it. “But I’m not sure you realize how much of a tease this is...how much of a tease you are when you’re doing this to me...”

Ali’s hands brought the rope around her wife’s other side and up under her other breast as she knelt right in front of her again. She bent down and traced a light circle around her keeper’s nipple with the tip of her tongue, grinning when she felt the skin there erupt in goosebumps. 

“I do know how it feels though,” Ali answered slowly as she felt a pang in her core from all the erotic touches she was giving her wife as she wrapped her up. “When you painted me, on me, God...” she groaned at the memory and kept talking slowly. Her sensual words were heavy with desire. “The way you were so close to me, your naked body, so sexy, right on top of me, but I couldn’t touch you...it drove me crazy. The way you touched me, with the brush or your hand...even the littlest touches...it made my skin feel like it was on fire. Watching you move and watching you concentrate and focus...that made me wet, almost more than the touches did. I wanted you to hurry the fuck up, but I also never wanted you to stop...”

“Jesus...” Ashlyn whimpered.

“He can’t help you tonight...” Ali’s low, commanding voice almost made her wife come right that second.

Ali had almost completed the most basic karada she knew, changing up her plan earlier on when it was clear to her that neither she nor Ashlyn would be able to wait the extra time required for the original plan. As her words worked up Ashlyn’s libido her hands continued the touches and wraps and twists and ties all along. When she was finished, the soft purple ribbons, all twisted into thinner ropes, made a big spiderweb type pattern across the front of the keeper. There were 7 intersections spread out from the base of her throat to her lower abdomen with rope going around her neck, around her sides, and through her crotch, twice. The final touch was to wrap the twisted ribbon around the top of each thigh three times as an end point for the ropes. By the time Ali was done with her wife’s thighs, Ashlyn was trying to squeeze them together to get pressure on her aching clit.

“Fuck Al...this is so hot” she moaned and closed her eyes as if that would help steady her.

“You’re hot...look at you...” Ali’s eyes were as black as night she was so turned on by the wrapping session. “I love this so much” she murmured as she scooted back to get a better look at her handiwork. “You’re fucking gorgeous babe. Unbelievable...”

Ashlyn’s eyes opened when she heard the next level of want in her wife’s voice. She was surprised to see just how dark Ali’s eyes were and felt her heart skip a beat.

“What do you want me to do with my arms?” the keeper asked provocatively. She had been holding them up or back out of the way throughout the wrapping session. But now that they were finished she was dying to touch her own body just to feel the pretty purple ribbons all around her torso.

“Anything you want” Ali stared lustfully.

Ashlyn began slowly moving her hands around her body, caressing and emphasizing the wraps where they intersected and looped. She completed a full 360 degree turn, all standing on her knees, so her beautiful brunette could get a good look at everything she had done. It felt surprisingly sexy. Ashlyn had never been one to do a lot of sultry dancing or stripping for her wife but this felt different somehow. This felt more like appreciating creativity with the proper respect it deserved. When she completed the turn she dropped her jaw when she saw Ali slowly fingering herself as she watched her.

“Fuck, baby...” Ashlyn moaned. “Can I help you with that or do you want me to stay over here, like this?”

“I...I don’t know...” Ali answered honestly, her voice hoarse with lust. 

She had never been this turned on by the wrapping before. But she had never really known what she was doing before either. Knowledge really was power. And that power was throbbing insistently between Ali’s legs.

Ashlyn felt the intense difference too. It was fucking hot as hell seeing her wife so worked up, knowing she was the reason behind it. Having someone you’d been having sex with for over 17 years still get so excited about you and your body and the way you looked was impossible to describe. The keeper didn’t waste time trying to. She was just grateful. And horny as fuck. She wasn’t sure what to do though. She wanted to be the one with her fingers working inside Ali’s wet center, there was no doubt about that. But what if Ali had some kind of fantasy that she wasn’t even aware of herself? What if she needed Ashlyn to stay where she was and just let the purple ribbons and ropes work their sexy magic on the brunette? As she stood there tall on her knees thinking about what to do, Ashlyn shifted her weight a couple of times as the ache in her core intensified. Watching Ali get more and more excited, moving her fingers slowly in and out and moaning with pleasure was doing things to the blonde. Powerful things.

“Touch yourself” Ali’s voice shook with desire when she spoke. Her dark nipples were starting to get hard as she added a third finger to her own soaking wet pussy. She was sitting up, legs open in front of her, and leaning back with one arm behind her near the foot of the bed for support.

Ashlyn fought the urge to ask for further clarification. She wanted to get everything right for her wife but knew now was not the time to ask a lot of questions. She spread her legs out wider but stayed upright on her knees so Ali could see everything she had done – all of the beautiful purple ribbons and the skin. The keeper could hear how wet her wife was when the brunette’s fingers sloshed around inside her flooded core. Fuck, that was hot. Ashlyn took a couple of minutes to move her hands over the rest of her body again and then pinched a nipple with one hand while dropping the other hand slowly down to her own mound.

“You are so fucking sexy Al. Goddamn woman...” her hoarse voice broke the sultry silence. Ashlyn felt a gush between her own legs as she focused on her wife’s beautiful body starting to get more and more excited. The keeper spent one last couple of seconds caressing the thick set of three wraps at the top of her thigh and then dragged her fingers through her own drenched folds with a loud moan. “Fuuuuuuck...”

The two wives exchanged lusty looks as they continued fucking themselves for the next 5 minutes. Ashlyn struggled to stay up on her knees, gradually sliding down lower and lower as her legs spread out wider until finally she was sitting on her heels with both hands between her legs. The ropes that passed through her crotch weren’t very tight and they were easy enough to push to each side, right up against her inner thighs so they weren’t in her way. Ali used her supporting arm to tug on her own nipples, whimpering as she watched her hot wife bring herself closer and closer to orgasm. When the brunette saw the pink flush start to creep up Ashlyn’s neck she knew the blonde was close to her release. 

“You gonna come for me over there?” she purred and scooted closer to the keeper on the bed. Ali stretched one leg out until it touched her wife’s knee and kept it there, just to feel her. “I wanna see you come, all wrapped up like that.”

“I wanna see you come too baby. Come with me. Come with me, I’m so close...”

It only took a couple more minutes. Ali got the final push she needed when Ashlyn started panting and her leg started shaking. Her pretty pink nipples looked extra perfect with the purple ribbons twisted around them. Ashlyn only needed a couple of minutes of rubbing her own clit to send her over the edge. Her body shook as she came, and she did her best to hold herself upright as the orgasm rocked through her. She wanted to make sure her beautiful brunette had a good view of her handiwork. Ali followed almost immediately afterwards, before her wife had even finished her ride. The brunette let a stream of four-letter words fly as she rode her own orgasm to ecstasy. They practically burned holes in each other with their smoldering looks as they stretched their legs out, entwining them together as they slowly came down from their incredible highs. Their satisfied smiles and heaving chests and slippery, sloppy folds were evidence of the powerful orgasms that had just moved through them both. They locked eyes, mesmerized by the result of the thrilling new element they’d just added to their intimate repertoire. When it was all said and done, it would go down as one of the sexiest nights of their lives.

//

The love hangover Ashlyn had been trying to avoid wasn’t as bad the next morning as she thought it was going to be. They slept-in and then hurried down to enjoy a mid-morning breakfast in the beautiful hotel café that was located on a large terrace overlooking Lake Geneva. Both Ali and Ashlyn were glowing after their intimate and long-overdue sexcapades night. Their simple touches lingered longer than usual that morning and they couldn’t take their eyes off of each other as they ate their quiche and crepes and local summer sausage. The extra sleep and shower time had forced them to skip one of the two things on their morning agenda. They were supposed to be in Montreux for the afternoon, ideally by lunch time, and those were the plans Ashlyn wasn’t willing to compromise on. Instead of spending half the morning exploring the city of Lausanne, they chose to focus the time they had left on the tourist attraction that had piqued Ali’s curiosity from the first moment they had begun planning their trip. 

Two thirds of the way to Montreux from Lausanne was a town called Vevey that was famous for being the place where the first commercial milk chocolate bar had been created back in 1876. There were also several small vineyards on the hillsides of Vevey and an interesting museum dedicated to food and nutrition called the Alimentarium. You couldn’t miss it because there was an enormous silver fork sticking up out of the lake next to it. But Ali and Ashlyn drove past all of it, and 13 miles up the hillside behind Vevey to a large, well-maintained and impeccably landscaped estate in what was officially called Corsier-sur-Vevey. It was the brunette’s turn to drive and even she, a professed non car freak, had to admit how much fun it was to navigate the sleek Jaguar with its powerful engine up the winding hillside. Ali did enough driving in her everyday life that she rather enjoyed letting Ashlyn do the bulk of it when they were together. But she got a lot of enjoyment out of the drive to Vevey and then on to Montreux later that morning.

The 37-acre estate near the top of the hillside, called Manoir de Ban, was where Charlie Chaplin lived from 1953 to his death in 1977. While he and his family were overseas, the McCarthyism-controlled US government prohibited his return to America unless he agreed to several more rounds of abusive testimony about his supposed communist leanings. So Chaplin and his fourth wife, Oona, and their 8 children moved to Switzerland instead. The estate had been restored and turned into ‘Chaplin’s World’ back in 2016.

“So that’s the museum over there, right?” Ashlyn peered off to the right as they pulled into the parking lot near the entry gates. “The part that has all of his film production stuff, the sets from his movies and costumes and all of that?”

“Yep” Ali nodded as she parked the car and turned off the engine. “And his house is restored to the way it was when he was still living here” she explained, pointing up another small hill and to their left. “It’s up there somewhere.”

“And by house you mean mansion” the keeper chuckled. 

“No, by house I mean fancy Swiss mansion” Ali laughed as they clasped hands and started the walk up the paved path to the information and ticket booth.

They spent two hours exploring both halves of Chaplin’s World and then another half hour wandering around the beautiful grounds. Ashlyn couldn’t get over the fact that they had been allowed to sit on the furniture in the residence and interact with the set pieces and props in the museum. She had even been able to run back and forth in the Yukon cabin set from ‘The Gold Rush’, making the structure tilt from one side to the other on the fulcrum - just as Chaplin had done during filming. The keeper hadn’t seen any of his movies but she was certainly interested after exploring the museum. Ali filmed some of her love’s antics, noticing for the first time how similar Ashlyn and Charlie Chaplin were in some ways.

“Ummm, maybe you need some more sleep sugarplum” the keeper laughed as they walked back to the car. “He was a tiny dude with a pretty particular look who made movies and didn’t talk. That’s kinda the opposite of me in every way.”

“No, silly” Ali shook her head and giggled, leaning into her wife’s strong shoulder as they held hands and walked side by side. “I just mean the way he always had a childlike outlook on life, right up until the very end. All those home movies, even in his 70s and with white hair, he was just a big kid. In all the best ways” she looked up into Ashlyn’s smiling face and squeezed her bicep with her free hand. “You have that same youthful heart, you always have. It was one of my favorite things about you when we first met.”

“Yeah?” Ashlyn blinked shyly. She knew her penchant for being another one of the kids wasn’t always a good thing as a co-parent.

“Yeah” Ali pressed a kiss into her keeper’s cheek. “It’s still one of my favorite things about you. Now maybe more than ever.”

//

Montreux was the most famous city on Lake Geneva and it was easy to see why some of the most well-known, creative people in the history of music, literature, dance, and several other milieus had made it their home over the past 300 years or so. Its biggest claim to fame was the annual Jazz festival that took place every July. Montreux was the quintessential Swiss Riviera city and boasted some of the most beautiful locales in the entire country. It was situated almost at the bottom right end of the croissant-shaped Lake Geneva and was often used by travelers as a gateway to the Alps to the East. Ali and Ashlyn were going to be doing the same thing, taking a train the next morning, Tuesday, up to the Matterhorn on their way North to the next EUROs game on Thursday in Basel. Everything the Kriegers had learned and seen of Lake Geneva and its quaint towns and villages was true of Montreux, but on a bigger scale. The ritzy Montreux casino made them both think of their time spent on the French Riviera back in 2028 when they visited for the Paris Olympics. They checked into the Hotel Victoria in beautiful Montreux with wide eyes.

“Can you believe this place?” Ashlyn asked as they stepped out of the funicular they had just ridden all the way up to the hotel, which was properly identified as being located in Glion, a town high above Montreux and overlooking the lake and the alps to the South.

“I’m not afraid of heights” Ali chuckled as she looked back at the cable car she had just disembarked with an eek face, “but Jesus was that steep!”

The hotel itself was every bit as luxurious and regal as the palace they had stayed in the night before. Both Ali and Ashlyn knew what to expect when they made their plans and had read all about how opulent some of the buildings were around the lake. But seeing it with their own eyes had proven to be a whole other level. It really did feel like they were living in one of the mansions from Newport, RI for two nights, one in each gorgeous hotel. Ashlyn had been worried about getting her wife where she needed them to be for the surprise later that afternoon, but she needn’t have been. Ali was so determined to do whatever the keeper wanted for the rest of the day that she was complete putty in Ashlyn’s hands.

“Ok, well, I thought we could walk around town a little bit, eat lunch somewhere that looks yummy and beautiful...”

“Mmmm, yummy and beautiful, sounds like somebody else I know” Ali flirted as they waited in line for their cable car lift. Her nose-crinkling grin lit up her face while they held hands, shared a quick kiss, and took the funicular back down the steep hill into Montreux. 

“Such a cheeseball” Ashlyn shook her head but smiled broadly. “That’s my gig. Find your own thing, would ya?”

“Fine, whatever” Ali laughed. “Tell me what’s after lunch.”

“You wanna see the castle, right?”

“I do, but this is your day babe.”

“Well, I wanna see the castle too, so there” she teased, sounding like one of the kids. They giggled together as they enjoyed the incredible view from the funicular. “We can take a boat ride there, but I’d rather walk if that’s ok. We can take the boat back.”

“Oh yeah, the flowers” Ali added excitedly, remembering one of the things her wife had been looking forward to once they finally arrived in Montreux. “We can walk there along the lake and there’s that archway that’s like a long tunnel of flowers.”

“Exactly” Ashlyn nodded, touched that Ali had remembered. “You do your research, don’t you?”

“Well, I try. Gotta do something while the wife’s away for 2 weeks” she winked.

Ashlyn felt her stomach flutter as she realized that Ali had absolutely no idea what she had planned for her after they got to the castle. The keeper was glad they were both so giddy and happy otherwise the enormous grin that she couldn’t wipe off of her face would have given her away.

At 2:00pm, after seeing some of the sights and eating lunch in Montreux, the two wives started their stroll along the lake towards Chillon Castle. The medieval, 10th century castle had first existed as a Roman outpost. It was built on Chillon, a small oval-shaped island in Lake Geneva, and was intended to guard the entrance to the strategic road through the Alpine passes to the East of the lake. That’s what was so amazing about Europe – there was a logical, tangible history for everything. The castle, shaped unconventionally in an oval like the island it stood on, now belonged to the government of Switzerland and was classified as one of the country’s most important historical sites. The castle had housed many notable people throughout history but the one that caught Ali’s eye had been the poet, Lord Byron. He had written a famous poem from the perspective of someone imprisoned there, and legend said that he had even carved his name into one of the stone pillars in the dungeon that had been his inspiration. Castle Chillon, or Chateau de Chillon as they say in French, had also been one of the settings in Henry James’ novella ‘Daisy Miller’. And, to show the true versatility of the awesome structure, it had also been the inspiration for the castle in Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ movie. Writer Victor Hugo had famously described the castle as “a block of towers on a block of rocks” and nobody could argue with the apt depiction.

The 30-minute walk was truly beautiful. Ali and Ashlyn weren’t alone, which was too bad, but what did you expect in one of the busiest tourist destinations in the country in the middle of the busiest tourist season of the year? Lovely flowers of every color imaginable lined the paved pathway as the couple strolled hand in hand, enjoying each other’s company and the beautiful weather. The overhead archway of flowers didn’t start until much closer to the castle itself, but the promenade was lined with them, in planters or flower boxes, or simply planted within stone borders all along the way from Montreux. The castle itself was much more beautiful than just a block of towers. Ali had seen many pictures of the famous castle during her research and her favorite thing about it was the way the thick limestone walls took on so many different colors reflected back up from the lake water all around it. It had been completely restored, was in excellent condition, and was a good example of the feudal style of architecture.

Ali and Ashlyn took their time and toured the grounds of the castle as well as the interior. The grounds were almost non-existent outside of the castle walls because the structure took up almost the entirety of the small, rocky island. Inside the castle walls though, there were four great halls, three separate courtyards, and a series of bedrooms that were all open to the public. Additional rooms were open for visitors from time to time as well, one of which was the Camera domini – the oldest bedroom in the entire castle. It had belonged to the Duke of Savoy and was covered in priceless 14th century medieval murals and tapestries. Ashlyn took a ton of pictures of her wife as they moved through the surprisingly peaceful place. Seeing it as it was now, serene and still except for the hubbub from the steady stream of tourists, made it almost impossible to imagine it as the cold, fierce, brutal fortress it had functioned as hundreds of years ago. It took physically seeing the feeble etchings of prisoners’ names on the walls and pillars of the dungeon to remind everybody of what the castle’s true purpose had been. The side of the castle that faced the land was geared exclusively for defense, complete with arrow slits, battlements, and fortifications. But the opposite side, the side that opened up to the lake, was as gracious and beautiful as any palace you might see. There wasn’t a rampart or defensive wall in sight on the lakeside.

“Would you mind taking a picture of us?” Ali asked another couple who appeared to be doing the same thing they were – walking the flower-filled promenade and touring the castle. 

The brunette and the wife of the other couple had shared some friendly interaction a couple of times previously during the 2 hours they had been in the same vicinity. Once the other couple agreed, Ali and Ashlyn posed in front of one of the open stone windows with the shimmering lake visible behind them. They switched spots with the man and woman and returned the photographic favor.

“I don’t think I’ve ever thought of a castle as romantic before” the wife admitted as they exchanged cameras after the impromptu photo session. “But this is really magical.”

“We got married in a castle” Ali beamed back at the woman, unable to keep the joy of that wonderful memory off of her face. “Very romantic” she added. “But this is definitely a special place. No doubt about it.”

Ashlyn held her breath when she heard her wife’s words. Did Ali suspect anything? Had the intelligent brunette figured out her keeper’s surprise? Ashlyn forced herself to stay calm as she checked her watch again for the time. All would be revealed soon enough, the blonde just had to play dumb for another 30 minutes. She only half listened to Ali tell the other wife about their romantic wedding at the Hammond Castle in Gloucester, too busy trying to calm her nerves. The two couples ambled around the lakeside of the castle, taking in the breathtaking sights of the late afternoon sun dancing on the colorful water. It was 4:45pm when Ashlyn finally let out a relieved sigh. 

“Mrs. Krieger?” a smiling, polite, middle-aged woman dressed in a formal-looking suit skirt approached the two couples. “Mrs. Alexandra Krieger?” she clarified when both Ashlyn and Ali turned and gave her their attention. The keeper rolled her eyes at herself, reacting out of habit when she heard her name, even though she knew the woman had been due to arrive any minute.

“Yes?” Ali’s face looked calm and inquisitive, despite the tiny bit of panic that filled every parent’s heart when they heard their formal name used by an official-looking stranger. “That’s me.”

“Oh good” the woman smiled warmly, hoping to allay any fears. “Will you please come with me madam?”

The brunette turned to her wife, frowning in confusion. Her confusion was only amplified when she saw the impish grin on Ashlyn’s face.

“What’s going on Ash?”

“Just go with her” the keeper nodded and took both of her wife’s hands in her own as they faced each other.

“But...why? Where am I going?”

“Do you trust me?” Ashlyn kissed one set of her wife’s fingers.

“Yes, but...”

“Do you love me?” she lifted the other hand to her lips and gave it a kiss too.

“Of course, but...”

“Then go with her” Ashlyn winked and gave both hands a soft squeeze. She leaned in for a quick peck on the lips too. “I’ll see you soon.”

30 minutes later Ali was standing in the Camera domini, the former Duke of Savoy’s bedroom, staring at herself in a floor-length mirror that was definitely not from Feudal times. The look of confusion on her face had been replaced by one of love and expectation. When the brunette had been escorted to the Duke’s private chambers there had been a note from Ashlyn.

‘My Queen,

Will you please do me the honor of renewing our wedding vows in this beautiful castle this afternoon?

I know it’s a surprise and you haven’t had a chance to prepare or anything, but today’s not about all of that. Not for me anyway. I want to recreate our wedding day, but in a laid-back Swiss Riviera way. No stress. No schedule. Just you and me and a beautiful castle. I hope that’s ok with you.

But I’m not an animal. There’s a dress for you to put on if you feel like you need to change. Either way you’ll be the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen.

Meet me just outside the Savoy family apartments, in the Courtyard of Honor, as soon as you’re ready.

All my love,  
Ashlyn’

The brunette had changed out of her go-to summer outfit of casual shorts and tank-top and into the simple, cream-colored sundress and strappy sandals her wife had bought for her during her two-week headstart in Switzerland. Ali’s hair was down that day with just a bit of the sides pulled back and fastened with a barrett at the back of her head. That was apparently going to have to do. Ashlyn hadn’t left her any make-up or other beautifying accessories and the brunette could hear her keeper’s voice in her head telling her she didn’t need any of that because she was already the most beautiful woman in the world. She smiled at her reflection and her wife’s imagined words and left the room. At first she had been annoyed because she wasn’t prepared for such a big moment in their lives. But as soon as she read Ashlyn’s note her anxiety washed away with each word. The blonde had thought of the most important thing, at least the thing she knew would be the most important to Ali as they both looked back on this day from sometime far away in the future. The photos. Ali wouldn’t care about her hair or her mascara as long as she wasn’t dressed like a tourist in the photos. Sweet Ashlyn had gotten it right and Ali loved the dress and sandals. It was an outfit she would have chosen herself and worn out to dinner later that evening or back at home on a summer date night.

“She’s waiting for you right through that door” the official but friendly looking woman pointed and smiled at Ali as the brunette moved from the Duke’s bedroom to his family’s apartments and living space towards the back or roadside of the castle. The woman handed Ali a lovely bouquet of Alpine Aster, lilac colored just like the flowers had been in her wedding bouquet 16 years ago this month. “Don’t forget these.”

Ali was overcome for a moment by the thoughtfulness of her beloved keeper. She wondered how long she had been planning this grand gesture that just might put all of the rest of her other grand gestures to shame. What could be more romantic than a surprise renewal of their wedding vows in an amazing castle on one of the most beautiful lakes in the world? The door to the outside opened just as the brunette was getting herself together again. It was almost as if Ashlyn had known she had stalled there for a minute. As always, there the chivalrous blonde was, ready to lend a helping hand or a kind word.

“Are you ready beautiful?” she beamed through the open doorway at Ali, their eyes meeting and saying so much that their mouths could never manage in that moment. “If you need another minute...”

“No, no” Ali found her voice quickly and reached out for her wife’s hand. “I’m ready. I’m just...I don’t even know what to say” her eyes were wide as she stepped out into the Courtyard of Honor and the dazzling view of the Swiss hillside across the road to the North. She decided right at that moment that everything in Switzerland was beautiful – the poor hillside just had the bad luck of having to compete with Lake Geneva and the Alps to the South. “You’re unbelievable Ashlyn” she shook her head and chuckled, smile growing bigger by the second as her keeper lifted her hand to her lips and kissed it.

“You’re ok?” Ashlyn met her eyes again and stood right in front of her, wanting to make very sure that Ali was ok with the proceedings.

Ali recognized the eager, concerned look in her wife’s eyes and felt her heart swell again.

“I’m better than ok” the brunette tilted her head slightly and blinked up at her keeper with pure love in her heart and in her eyes. “And you’re incredible. Thank you so much for all of this, honey.”

“You look fantastic baby” Ashlyn leaned in and gave her lips a soft kiss.

“So do you” Ali returned the compliment as she was able to focus on her wife’s similarly casual but nice outfit for the first time.

Ashlyn had changed out of her shorts and polo and sneakers into cream colored summer slacks and a crisp dress shirt that was lilac colored and matched the flowers perfectly. Her hair was the magical shaggy style that always managed to look good, no matter what, and never looked like a mop.

“Come on then” the keeper smiled again and gave Ali her elbow so they could walk together to the other side of the small courtyard where a priest and a photographer were waiting for them.

Of the four courtyards inside the castle walls, the Courtyard of Honor was the smallest, but it was up on the highest level of the building. It was the Savoy family’s personal courtyard. It was where the Duke and his family and closest friends, and most important courtesans gathered every evening after dinner. It sat at the Western point of the oval, with one side facing Montreux to the West and the longer side facing the road and the northern hillside. Flowers had been brought in, as they had been to all of the other courtyards as well. The castle walls blocked a lot of sunlight and made growing things more challenging, especially on the bigger courtyards located lower in the structure. There was a small fountain at the Western end and that was where the priest waited to officiate the ceremony. The photographer would serve as the witness as well as handling her normal wedding day duties.

“Good afternoon ladies” the priest smiled at them both.

All Ali could think about was whether 5:30pm still qualified as afternoon or should he have said ‘good evening’ instead? She was starting to panic about not having any vows written. She was also very sure that she wouldn’t be able to remember very many of her original ones, certainly not enough to pull off this ceremony. Ashlyn, sensing her distress, squeezed her hand and gave her the most serene smile the brunette had ever seen. It was at times like this when the keeper truly looked like a cherub right out of an Italian renaissance painting. Ali felt her whole body relax and she smiled back, gratefully.

“I understand that 16 years ago this month, you two exchanged vows on your wedding day at a different castle far from here” the priest smiled again. “And today you’d like to renew those vows and the sacred promises you made that day, is that correct?”

“Yes sir” Ashlyn’s dimple was on permanent display as her heart soared to be standing there with the beautiful brunette by her side.

“Yes please” Ali replied, her own smile replacing the worry that had been on her face just a few moments before. She felt her own grin growing by the second as she hugged Ashlyn’s arm closer to her own body.

“I’m here as a witness before God and to bless the continuance of your union. You may begin Ashlyn” the priest nodded at the blonde.

Ashlyn and Ali turned to face each other, with the soothing sound of the babbling fountain and the sweet, fragrant aroma of the flowers and the heady summer scent of Lake Geneva and its glorious surroundings. They smiled at one another and held hands, both enjoying the pure romance of the moment.

“Oh, shoot” Ashlyn pulled her hands back quickly, tugging off her wedding ring. “Here, give me yours” she motioned with her eyes at her wife’s ring.

They exchanged rings with shy giggles and then held hands again.

“Ali, my love, my queen, my reason for living” Ashlyn began, her face one enormous smile as she gazed into those whiskey-colored eyes she loved so much. “I didn’t prepare anything to say because I wanted this to be just us, unrehearsed, unplanned, un-everything. I remember our wedding day so clearly. I’d never been happier in my whole life” she paused, remembering the day at Hammond Castle back in Gloucester. “I really couldn’t imagine being any happier than that day, but then the next day came, and the next, and the one after that. And they just keep coming and I just keep being amazed by how strong our love is. And that’s no matter what. There’ve been ups and downs, just like you said in your vows” she nodded and her smile faded. “Life is hard and marriage is hard and parenting is hard. We’ve been through a lot already in 16 years but we’ve always kept our promises to each other. We’ve always loved and respected each other and helped each other and lifted each other up, no matter what. In the good times and the bad. When you re-proposed to me two years ago, after one of the hardest times we’d ever had, I was blown away. That meant the world to me baby. You telling me that you would still choose me all over again. So today, in this magical place where the water meets the mountains, I just want to tell you that today is the happiest day of my life” her voice hitched and a watery smile returned to her face as she felt Ali squeezing her hands in encouragement. “I know there will be more ups and downs, and God help us get through the kids as teenagers” she lifted her eyes up and winked at the priest which made Ali laugh. “But my promise is the same today as it was the first time we did this, honey. I love you so much Alexandra, and I will love you with everything I’ve got for as long as I live.”

Ali stepped forward and wrapped her keeper up in an embrace. She wasn’t sure if it was allowed or not but she did it anyway. She couldn’t have stopped herself if she had wanted to. And she didn’t want to.

“I love you too, so much” she whispered, her chin over Ashlyn’s shoulder as they hugged.

“That was very nice” the priest nodded and smiled as the couple ended the hug but kept their hands together. “Alexandra, it’s your turn now.”

“Ok, well, as if this wasn’t going to be hard enough with no notice” she chuckled, “now how am I supposed to follow that?” 

“No pressure baby. No judgment” Ashlyn nodded her encouragement, locking her eyes onto her wife’s and squeezing her hands again. “You don’t even have to say anything if you don’t want to.”

“See, that right there” Ali felt her emotions rise up and she had to pause and fight back tears already. “You are just so wonderful to me Ash. You always have been and I keep sort of waiting for it to fade a little bit” she shook her head and spoke again quickly when she saw her wife’s face fall. “No, no...ummm...see I’m messing this up” she sighed and closed her eyes in frustration.

They stood there for a full minute, holding hands, while Ali kept her eyes closed and tried to harness her swirling thoughts. Finally Ashlyn squeezed her hands and spoke, her voice calm and reassuring.

“Tell me.”

Ali opened her eyes and felt her keeper’s calmness starting to spread into her own frazzled system.

“Your wonderfulness could fade to half of what it usually is, the way you treat me and the way you always consider my feelings” she tried again. “Even at half it would still be 10 times more wonderful than anybody else’s. That’s what I was trying to say babe. I used to think I put you up on a pedestal because of my past” she dropped her eyes for a second, suddenly shy in front of the priest and the photographer. She didn’t want to get into the details of her rocky love life before meeting the keeper.

“I know” Ashlyn nodded, telling her there was no need to explain.

“But it wasn’t that. You’re just...so...unbelievably good to me” she fumbled for the words again. “Nobody compares to you, not anybody, not anywhere. This whole renewal surprise is a perfect example. I’ll bet these flowers have a special meaning too, besides being the lilac accent color I picked out for our wedding, don’t they?”

“Umm, well yeah” Ashlyn shrugged, uncharacteristically shy for a second. “The Alpine Aster, no matter what color, means patience and elegance. You can’t stay happily married without a whole lot of patience” she chuckled and was relieved when Ali joined her. “And you’re definitely the elegant one” she continued with a wink at the brunette.

“See what I mean?” she shook her head in disbelief and admiration. “You’re too good. And what I was trying to say before was that I kept expecting that to fade a bit, just naturally over time. Marriage is hard – you’re right about that” she raised her eyebrows and blew out a breath. “But the point is that it hasn’t faded. You still treat me like a queen, even when I don’t deserve it. And that’s the kind of love that I still can’t believe I was lucky enough to find. I know exactly what you mean about the next day being happier than the last. Life gets harder all the time, especially with the kids, but you don’t ever fade. Your light never dims Ash, not for long anyway. You keep me going in so many ways I could stand here until tomorrow morning listing them off and still not be done. You’re still my favorite person. You’re the one I want to be with more than anybody else. You’re the love of my life Ashlyn and I fall in love with you more and more every single day. I don’t know how you do it, but please don’t ever stop loving me the way you do.”

“I won’t sugarplum, I promise” the keeper grinned.

“And I remember part of your wedding vows to me that day because I think about them all the time. When you first said them to me I didn’t really understand what they meant I guess. But now, maybe because I’m older, I don’t know, I get it and it means everything to me. You said you promised to lift me up and hold me tight and you’ve been doing it all along honey. I’ve never felt more loved and protected and safe and stable – that’s you holding me tight, right?” she asked rhetorically.

“Mmmm Hmmm” Ashlyn nodded, deeply moved that Ali had remembered the phrase word for word. 

She had put a lot of thought into that particular part of her vows and always wondered if she had been able to convey the meaning as she intended. Now, it was clear that her wife had understood it, at least at some point along the way.

“And, at the same time, you lift me up” Ali blinked and a tear slowly rolled down her cheek. “You support me and encourage me and literally pick me up when I need it. It doesn’t make sense that a person could do both those things for another person at the same time, but it’s exactly what you do. I’ve never ever felt so loved and so held, and then also so free and empowered at the same time. That’s what you promised me and that’s what you’ve done for me for 16 years now sweetheart. And I promise I’m going to do the same thing for you from now on. Always. I love you so much Ashlyn.”

They hugged again, longer this time, and the keeper whispered over Ali’s shoulder.

“You already do that for me baby. More than you know.”

After giving them a couple of minutes to settle their emotions the priest cleared his throat and asked them to exchange wedding rings. They slipped the rings back onto their fingers and turned to face the priest again, big smiles on their faces and hands clasped tightly.

“It’s my honor to bear witness, before God, to your new sacred promises, added this day to the ones made previously” he intoned in his most official voice. “May your marriage continue to be successful, may you both live long and happy lives, and may your union remain pure and holy. Amen.”

“I can kiss the bride now, right?” Ali asked.

Before the priest could respond, Ashlyn had her in her arms and in one of the most romantic kisses they had ever shared. She even finished it with a low dip, surprising the brunette and making her squeal.

They spent another hour at the castle posing for pictures as the local photographer took them to all the best places to capture the lake and the Alps and the unbelievable views all around them. As they sat close together on the ferry boat that would take them around the lake for an hour and then back to Montreux where Ashlyn had made reservations for a fancy dinner with dancing afterwards, the couple didn’t say very much. Ali held the pretty flowers in one hand and her wife’s hand in the other. What else was there to say? 

“Thanks for being so great about trusting me” Ashlyn pressed a kiss into her wife’s cheek as they stood in line to disembark the boat. Ali gave her a quizzical look and the keeper continued, slinging the backpack with their other clothes over her shoulder. “You know, with the whole surprise ceremony and everything.”

“Honey, I trust you” the brunette put her arm around her wife’s waist as the line started to move and they shuffled side by side towards the dock. “And this is why” she grinned. “Days like today. Places like this. You’ve never let me down, not once. I love you. I trust you with everything, always” she paused and tried to steady her voice as she got emotional again. “But especially with my heart.”


	33. Another Summer Gone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still giddy from Ali's 100th cap ceremony Thursday night!! Did we EVER really think it would happen?? I know I didn't. These last 6 months seems like a dream - a really wonderful dream for our favorite bun-wearing defender (except for the fact that she will only play in 1 of the 5 Victory Tour matches). If it is a dream I don't ever want to wake up.

The romance of their time in Montreux was closely followed by the train ride Northeast, up into the Pennine Alps where they spent Tuesday. The hour-long train ride brought them to the famed Matterhorn and included a tour of the Zmutt Glacier. Another hour-long train ride North through the mountains brought them to a town called Gspon and the highest soccer pitch in Europe. Neither woman wanted to think about playing soccer 6,561 feet above sea level on a pitch literally carved into the side of a mountain. But they were happy to visit Ottmar Hitzfeld stadium on their way North. They spent the night in Brigerbad and enjoyed one of the many thermal spas that dotted the alpine area. Some decadent soaking in rejuvenating hot spring pools with a dynamic view made both Ali and Ashlyn feel like relaxed queens. They continued their travels North on Wednesday and arrived in Basel after a 3-hour train ride. Basel was the cultural capital of Switzerland and Ali and Ashlyn both enjoyed what the urban area offered before and after the two semi-final games on Thursday. The last stop on the Kriegers’ tour of Switzerland was Bern and the EUROs championship game, and runner-up game on Sunday. 

They had Friday off before taking the short 90-minute train ride from Basel to Bern Saturday morning, and they made the most of it. They passed up sightseeing offers from Ashlyn’s broadcasting colleagues and opted to stay in their hotel room to enjoy some of the last child-free alone time of their vacation. They hooked up with the broadcasting gang for the traditional night out before the final games on Sunday though. It was always a good time. Ali had a hard time ranking their night out in Bern higher than the fun times they enjoyed in Germany back in 2025, but Switzerland, as a whole, had been an amazing vacation. Both Germany and Switzerland trips had given the couple some remarkable experiences and memories they would cherish for the rest of their lives.

Before they knew it, they were flying home to Boston on Monday morning, excited to see their family but sad to leave their special, romantic time behind too. And the soccer had been outstanding. The whole world celebrated Iceland’s first major tournament championship victory after 16 years of trying to get to the pinnacle of European women’s soccer. They had burst onto the international scene back in the 2017 EUROs and made it to the semi-finals in 2021. In 2025 they made it all the way to the championship game, only to lose to Germany. Ashlyn would never forget her post-game interviews with the Iceland players that year. They suffered an early ouster in 2029 in Israel and now, 4 years after that ignominious exit, they had finally won the whole damned thing.

Life back in the big old house stopped for no-one, not even two moms returning from almost 4,000 miles away. All four kids, plus Edgar and Cristina, were at music camp that week, Week 7 of the Academy and the summer. Kyle had been manning the fort solo since Nathan returned Saturday to NYC for work, two days before Ali and Ashlyn got home. The grandparents had helped over the weekend, as always, but the house felt much too empty and quiet Tuesday morning once it was just Ali, Ashlyn, Kyle, and the three dogs. Peaches continued to make the family summer holiday trip every year and had matured into a pretty good dog. The mutt would be 7 years old in October and was happy and healthy and very well-loved by the entire family. Only poor, old Bandit was in bad shape among the dog members of the extended family. Ken and Vicki’s giant white mixed-breed that Ashlyn had given to Koty Wild back in 2020 was 13 years old and on his last legs. Ken had already talked with his children about putting the big old guy to sleep once the grandkids were all back in school in September. Ali and Kyle knew it was time. Bandit could barely walk anymore, and he was mostly blind with those cloud-filled eyes dogs sometimes get as they age. He had arthritis and several other minor and moderate ailments, but when you put them all together and then added in the blindness and the immobility it became time to start considering his overall quality of life. Part of the reason Vicki had adopted Sadie last summer was because she knew Bandit’s days were coming to an end soon. She wanted to make sure Ken had another dog to love to help ease the pain of losing one of the best dogs he had ever known. Bandit truly had been a wonderful addition to the family, second only to the impossibly imperturbable Fred when it came to showing patience and endurance with every child in his life. Bandit would be mourned and missed greatly.

“What the hell does this mean?” Meg glanced quickly at Ashlyn and then dropped her eyes back to the freshly opened letter in her hands, hoping the third time she read it might be different.

It was Friday afternoon, August 12th, and the redhead had driven up to Gloucester to do some laundry and check in with her stepmoms after their return from Switzerland four days earlier. She hadn’t seen her family since the 4th of July and had missed them all, even her brothers and sisters. Ali and Kyle had gone to pick up the kids from the last day of music camp and Ashlyn was sitting at the desk in the mudroom paying some bills and taking care of her half of the list of things her wife wanted to get done that week. Meg stood next to the desk, near the open doorway to the front hall where the stairs to the basement and the half-bath were. She was going through the pile of different sized and colored envelopes that had accumulated while the two moms were away and fishing out her own mail like the grown-up she was fast becoming.

“Whatcha got kiddo?” the blonde asked with an easy smile, expecting to help explain something simple to her 21-1/2 year old, soon to be college senior, daughter. Instead, she held her breath when she saw the frightened or angry – it was hard to tell which, look on the young woman’s face. “Meg, what is it?”

“I don’t know...” she set her jaw and the blonde knew the girl was angry. “You tell me” Meg quirked her eyebrow as her bright green eyes flashed. She shoved the letter towards Ashlyn, hand shaking, and folded her arms across her chest with a mixture of defiance and bravado.

Ashlyn scanned the brief letter quickly and let out a quiet sigh as she brought her free hand up to rub the back of her neck. It was a form letter that she had read numerous times over the years. It was one of two form letters that the blonde could probably recite from memory if she really had to. One of them, the shorter of the two, came about three times a year. The other one, the slightly longer one that she held in her hand now, came about once a year, on average. Ashlyn hated this letter. And she hated that Meg had even seen it.

“Where did you get this?” she asked with annoyance in her voice. She tried to temper her reply but this subject matter still brought out many of Ashlyn’s baser impulses. “Did you just open this, even though it’s not addressed to you?”

“Is Ali sick?” Meg brushed aside the question and the attitude from her stepmother and continued on her quest for an answer.

The curtness of the redhead’s reply irked Ashlyn but she knew the answer to her own question without needing to hear it from the young woman. They had all done it once or twice themselves, opened the wrong piece of mail. Those insurance-y, medical-y envelopes with their little plastic windows in them all looked the same. If you weren’t paying attention you could open one that wasn’t addressed to you without even meaning to. Ashlyn knew that Meg had a stack of envelopes to open after being gone for over a month. It had been an accident. She probably thought the envelope contained the results of her annual pre-season physical. There was no way Meg intended to open Ali’s letter with the results of her latest ultrasound from the end of July.

“Meg...” Ashlyn spoke softly, all annoyance gone from her voice.

“Is she?!” Meg started to panic a little at the change in Ashlyn’s demeanor. Her voice shook and got high and squeaky as fear flooded her system. “Why didn’t you tell me?!” she shouted as angry, frightened tears fell from her eyes.

“Hey, calm down...” the blonde tried to soothe.

“Don’t tell me to calm down! That says there’s something abnormal with some test result...” she stammered, grabbing the letter out of Ashlyn’s hand and reading it again with wild eyes. “’An abnormality in your Ultrasound’... what the fuck does that mean? Is she pregnant? Why is she even having an ultrasound?!” her voice rose and rose and the letter shook in her trembling hand.

Ashlyn kept trying to get the redhead to simmer down to no avail, so she finally just stood up and hugged her tightly. She held her for several seconds until Meg’s arms responded in kind and her breathing steadied. They hugged for another minute longer.

“Are you ready to listen now?” 

When Meg mumbled affirmatively the blonde kissed the side of her head and walked her into the kitchen in a side hug.

“Can I have a beer?” Meg asked as they passed the refrigerator.

“Yeah, that sounds good” Ashlyn smiled.

5 minutes later they were sipping two cold bottles of beer as they sat next to each other on the family room couch. They were angled so they faced one another and little Frankie lay curled up between them on the couch. Logan was in her usual spot on the floor between the couch and the coffee table. Ashlyn spent 20 minutes explaining everything about the complicated hunt for ovarian cancer that required 4 ultrasounds and blood tests a year for Ali. Meg listened attentively, frowning through much of the explanation but the blonde knew it was just because she was scared, not because she didn’t understand it.

“Is Grandma gonna get ovarian cancer?”

“We don’t know honey” Ashlyn shrugged sadly. “She gets her ultrasounds too, just like Ali does, so hopefully she’ll find it early if she does get it so she can fight it and beat it.”

“That really sucks” Meg said bluntly, but not incorrectly. “I mean, it really fucking sucks.”

“It’s scary” Ashlyn admitted. “That’s why we didn’t tell you or the other kids. That’s why I was kinda mad at first, not really at you...” she referenced her attitude when Meg had first confronted her with the letter.

“No, I know” Meg waved her off. “I get why you kept it to yourselves.” They were both quiet for a minute. Ashlyn could see the wheels in the red head spinning at breakneck speed. Meg gave her a quick smile. “Thank you for that. Really. You must freak out every time and here you both are never letting any of us see you be nervous about it.”

“That’s part of parenting” Ashlyn smiled back, relieved that the young woman seemed to be dealing with the startling news better now. “You try like hell to protect your kids from scary things. Both the real ones and the ones that might not even happen.”

“I’ve been so worried about Grandma, you know, after Mike died. Just really focused on all the grandparents – they’re all getting so old you know” Meg cautioned Ashlyn as if the blonde hadn’t been worried about the same thing for a lot longer already.

“I know they are” Ashlyn sighed heavily. “That’s life though kiddo. You never know how long you have with anybody. That’s why we’re always telling you to appreciate what you have and make the most out of every day.”

“But Ali’s so young” Meg’s eyes went wide as she continued trying to process the information she had just learned. “I can’t even imagine...I mean, how do you even...I don’t know how you guys do it...”

“I won’t lie” Ashlyn’s voice was low and quiet and more serious than it had been during their whole conversation so far. “It terrifies me. The thought of losing her. I...I...don’t know what I would do. I really don’t. I can’t even come close to picturing it” she shook her head and closed her eyes.

Meg reached over and put her hand on her stepmother’s knee, squeezing it to let her know she was there with her in her unfathomable fear.

“But even on my worst days, or on days like today when one of these fucking letters comes in...these fucking abnormality letters...” she paused and took a deep breath to steady herself. “Even then, the thing that helps me the most is knowing that we’re doing everything we can to stay ahead of it.”

“Like by getting the tests you mean?”

“Yeah, of course, but also just the attitude Ali has about it. She’s so strong and brave and she looks at it like she’s hunting the cancer. She’s the one with the power because she’s actively searching for it. That makes me feel better. Less helpless. And anything I can do to help her so she can keep that attitude...well, that’s what I do.”

“Hunting the cancer...” Meg repeated the phrase softly and then nodded slowly. “Hunting the cancer. I like it. I can see how that would help. I’m gonna think about it like that too.”

“Good. I’m glad” Ashlyn smiled and patted Meg’s hand that was still on her knee in support. “It’s ok to be scared about it though. You feel what you need to feel honey. And you can come talk to us about it anytime. That’s our deal too. We talk to each other about it when we get scared” she shrugged again. “It sounds silly, or maybe too simple, but it really works.”

“Should I tell Ali that I know?”

“That’s up to you. But I would. Just...don’t say anything in front of the other kids, ok?” she gave the redhead a serious look. “We don’t want them to worry. They can’t do anything about it anyway, and their little minds have enough to worry about. Ok?”

“I won’t say a word to them. I promise. I’m glad I know now, but I’m also glad I didn’t know all along either” she paused and added quickly. “Not to sound like a selfish jerk...”

“Meg, relax” Ashlyn chuckled. “That’s why we didn’t want to tell any of you. We get it, trust me.”

Meg surprised the blonde by leaning over and giving her a strong hug, whispering emotionally over her shoulder.

“I love you Ash, so much.”

“Love you too kiddo.”

//

The following week was the 8th and final week of The Academy and Meg and her BC teammates were there for it again. Ali and Ashlyn both coached the week up at the camp and the 4-families repeated their modified 4-family vacation week to take place during that 8th week at The Academy as well. Ali still didn’t like not renting the big house on Squam Lake up in NH, but this year’s schedule with the kids and the soccer coaches was even worse than last year’s had been. There was just no other choice. Life was doing its thing again. Just like last year, all four families managed to have a good time together. The parents especially were hopeful that they could get back to the big house on the lake at some point in the near future, but nobody was holding their breath for that day. 

Labor Day weekend arrived and nobody could believe it was already time for school to start on Tuesday. Where the hell had the summer gone? And where were all their little kids? How had they grown into high school and middle school aged kids so fast? Meg was entering her senior year of college at BC and was looking forward to her best season yet as starting goalkeeper for the team. The BC Eagles were on the short list of several college soccer pundits’ lists of teams to watch. They didn’t have any true superstars, but they had an incredible core group of young women who had been playing together and learning together and improving together. There were no real holes in the team. It was hard to find a weak link. The only knock on them was their relatively inexperienced head coach, second year coach Niki Cross, and maybe the fact that they didn’t have a superstar player on the squad. If those were the two worst things about the team then look out NCAA!

Meg and Charlie continued to see each other and it appeared to have become a serious relationship for them both. Charlie had spent a couple of weeks in DC with Meg in July and then Meg had stayed with Charlie at his parents’ house for a few days when she returned to Boston in early August. The families had been introduced to the significant others and things were still moving ahead. The only thing left was for the two families to meet each other and both Ashlyn and Ali were sure that wasn’t too far off either. Charlie didn’t come from a family of athletes. In fact, his parents couldn’t have cared less about sports. But they were interested in Charlie’s girlfriend and the young man was in the process of getting them to come to one of Meg’s home games early this season. The Applegates were fairly conservative, but they were brainiacs. Their genius-level intelligence made it impossible for them to harbor many prejudices. They were far from perfect, Charlie had kooky aunts and messy cousins, but they knew that a person was a person regardless of the color of their skin, or where they came from, or who they loved. 

Meg took her schoolwork very seriously, as she always had, and spent a lot of time studying. Getting good grades had always been hard for her, but she had continued to pull all Bs with the occasional A and C thrown in. Both Ashlyn and Hannah had been trying to prepare her for her life after soccer, whenever that time came. Everyone expected her to play professional soccer after college, they just didn’t know where. If she didn’t get drafted by an NWSL team and couldn’t get picked up as a free agent by any of those teams then she would go overseas and try and make a roster over there somewhere. Ashlyn knew she would end up in the NWSL. There were a lot of good goalkeepers in the league but not too many of them were better than Meg would be once she adjusted to the intense, fast-paced NWSL. 

Drew was starting his freshman year of high school and both of his moms were nervous for him. High school could be challenging as hell. Ali and Ashlyn’s experiences had been very different when they were in high school, but they both knew what a struggle it could be for kids who lacked confidence or who were different. They also knew that those kids who had been challenged in high school, who didn’t fit the norm in everybody else’s eyes during those four years, often turned into the best kind of people you would ever hope to meet. The two moms were hoping they could help their shy teenager Drew get through high school without too much drama. Maybe just enough to mold and shape him for a future full of kindness and acceptance.

Drew and Ethan were still best friends and the eldest Krieger boy spent a lot of time at the Machado house. Ethan spent just as much time at the big old house and both the Machados and Kriegers appreciated the steady influence of the other family. Sam Machado continued to be the man Drew turned to for most of his teenage body and sex questions and Ali and Ashlyn had made their peace with that, for the most part. The keeper knew that her brother Chris was also making a point to stay active in the young man’s life in that way as well. It was mostly over the phone but that turned out to be the best way for Drew to communicate sometimes. Of course it made sense that shy Drew would be more comfortable asking and answering questions over the phone where he didn’t have to look at the other person. It made complete sense and when Ali heard about it she was elated and relieved. She knew Sam Machado was doing a good job but she felt so much better having someone in their family playing an ever-growing part too.

Drew still went to see Dr. Murphy, the child psychologist, but he had begun to push back against it last year. His moms understood the desire to push the envelope that all teenagers went through, but they were worried for their son if they allowed him to stop going to therapy altogether. They compromised and Drew went four times a year, with the understanding that he could always ask for more appointments if he wanted them. He was also still dating girls. The two moms waited anxiously for him to decide who to date this year, wondering if the ‘date for the school year and then break up’ method was still followed in high school or not. Drew was a moderately popular kid but not wildly popular. He was an average student, a good musician, and a great athlete. His moms both hoped his skill and success on the different fields and courts would translate into self-confidence for their shy boy. They hoped for that more than almost anything because they were pretty sure he would figure the rest of himself out if he just believed in himself more. Self-confidence cured a lot of ills.

Josie was ready and eager to start 7th grade, her second in middle school and first and last on her own there. Drew had been there for her last year as an 8th grader to her 6th grader, and the twins would be joining her next year. Both parents knew their feisty little girl could take care of herself – they knew when push came to shove that Josie would defend herself or someone else if she had to. But they felt better knowing one of her siblings was at least close by when they couldn’t be. Josie and Kayla were also still best friends but the redhead was branching out a bit more now because of the different groups she participated in. Kayla wasn’t as talented as Josie when it came to drama club and music, and the redhead was spending more and more time in that world. She was naturally gifted and she loved music and drama and most of her newer friends came from those activities. But Kayla was still her ride or die and they still shared sports and the rest of school. Their biggest worry was about who was going to get their period first and how and where it was going to happen.

The big change for Josie was that she had failed one too many eye exams for her parents’ liking and gotten glasses in the busy month of August. Both Ali and Ashlyn had been hoping that the sperm donor genes might have saved their girl from their own reliance on corrective lenses, but no such luck. Josie had been reluctant at first, even throwing a rare hissy fit about having to wear glasses because how could she play a part in a school performance if her character didn’t wear glasses? Once they understood where her resistance was coming from it was easy enough for Ali and Ashlyn to conquer it. They both felt Josie was too young to be wearing contact lenses all the time and they were happy when Dr. Comello agreed with them. But of all their kids, honestly, Josie was the one who would be able to take care of the contacts well enough to not harm her own eyes. Even still, the two moms were making her wait a couple more years. The potential damage that could be done to her young eyes was too great to risk it. The compromise was to allow her to wear contacts to perform if the director thought her character shouldn’t wear glasses. 

The twins were finally 5th graders at East Gloucester Elementary school! They had reached the top echelon of power and would enjoy it for 10 short months before they were flung back to the bottom as incoming new 6th graders at the middle school. But that was a whole year away. This year they had the First Thanksgiving to look forward to, as well as several field trips and activities the 5th graders took part in. They had been hearing their siblings and mothers prepare for and talk about the First Thanksgiving for four long years and now it was their turn. They knew what to expect, of course, because their class had all walked through the elaborate worlds of the Pilgrims and the Native Americans every year as well. It had been fun being spectators but both Dodge and Lily were looking forward to participating in full this year.

Dodge continued to be an energetic, outgoing, fun-loving kid. Of all their kids he required the least amount of course correcting. Instead of trying to change his behavior to keep him on the right path, Ali and Ashlyn found themselves simply slowing him down. He didn’t veer off path too much but he had a terrible habit of trampling over everybody in his path in his exuberance. He and Mikey were still thick as thieves but Dodge had many friends. His moms were pretty sure he didn’t have a shy bone in his body. He was becoming well-known for his athletic prowess but he was also a very good student. He excelled at math and was freakishly good with anything having to do with counting. He struggled with Writing and English but no more so than Drew had at his age. Dodge’s goal in life was to win a superbowl and to be a police officer. Both of them. At the same time. He didn’t care that both were full time jobs. He would find a way to do both simultaneously.

Lily was still her mostly sweet self. She had moments of bad temper and was still the loudest crier in the entire family. But at 10 years old she had learned to control herself more, in every way. She was still the most devious of the kids. If there was a scheme hatched in the house it was almost always Lily behind it. She was also still the most agreeable sibling, which seemed to contradict many of her other personality traits. Ashlyn had always said it best when describing her youngest daughter – ‘she’s predictably unpredictable’. Lily was always the wild card you just never knew where she was going to land on an issue. She could be every bit the flighty flower child one minute and then full-on competitive beast the next. All of the Krieger kids were competitive and their moms encouraged it because they were the exact same way themselves. Lily could be the easiest of the kids sometimes and then the most difficult and it was impossible to tell what had changed to prompt the switch in the first place. Ali in particular loved Lily’s patient little bestie Tahlia. Lily didn’t have a lot of friends and her moms still chalked that up to her speech impediment when she was younger. But it had been so long since that had been corrected that they were having a hard time using it as an excuse anymore. They were secretly afraid that Lily might be one of the women who was friendlier with men than with other women. It was crazy to even consider at 10 years old but it was their secret fear.

They had a secret fear for all of their kids. They were afraid that Meg would sacrifice her future NWSL career so she could stay closer to a boyfriend or husband. They were afraid that Drew was gay and wouldn’t be strong enough to accept himself and be forced to live some kind of partial existence for the rest of his life. They were afraid that Josie was going to be so focused on whatever she pursued for her career that she would forget entirely about sharing her life and her heart with somebody else. And they were afraid that Dodge would let his natural gifts go to his head and grow up to be a cocky, arrogant asshole. They didn’t share those fears with anybody but each other and they tweaked them periodically, but they were always fairly consistent. It’s what parents did – they worried about their kids growing up happy and healthy and turning into decent human beings.

//

The Friday of Labor Day Weekend was a special night for the Kriegers. They were taking the kids into Boston to the Vero Nixon concert. Lady Gaga’s former protégé was now a 23-year old superstar in her own right. She couldn’t have achieved everything she had without Lady Gaga’s help and Vero knew it. She let the famous megastar help her. She took Gaga’s advice and never got too big for her britches. She never bit the hand that fed her, not even once. Four years after working on the first big marketing campaign for Ashlyn’s clothing line, Vero was still tall, strong and talented as hell. Her trademark smoldering, smirking, soft-butch image had been honed to perfection and she still made women swoon, straight and lesbian alike. Vero’s supporters praised her for targeting most of her music towards the teenage girls who needed to hear Nixon’s empowering and accepting messages. But her detractors decried the very same thing as harmful for the youth of America. Nonsensical complaints about Vero Nixon turning the girls of America gay would have been hysterical if so many narrow-minded people didn’t actually believe them.

Vero’s star had risen so quickly that she hadn’t been able to do much more work with Ashlyn on any of her different businesses. Lady Gaga and Ashlyn were still good friends so the keeper knew exactly how busy young Vero had become over the past few years. Ashlyn always scored huge mom points when Vero Nixon reposted or replied or tagged her on any of their social media. It was the fastest way for the keeper to get her ‘cool mom’ status back if it had ever been temporarily lost. All she had to do was post something to or for Vero and wait. Eventually the busy performer would respond with a heartfelt and often very funny post of her own and every child in the extended Krieger family thought Ashlyn was the coolest mom on the planet again.

The concert had been Ali’s idea and she wanted to bring Josie and a few of her friends to see Vero for the young redhead’s birthday back in June. But Vero’s tour was all the way over in China by then and it didn’t work out. But when Vero’s tour finally hit Boston, she had a surprise for the Kriegers.

“Mom, you can’t be serious” Josie wrinkled her nose up and frowned at Ali from the middle row of the minivan on the way home from music camp early in August. All six of Ali and Kyle’s kids were in the vehicle with them and it was loud and spastic and hard to hear yourself think. Josie leaned forward, tugging on her mother’s driver seat from the seat right behind her in an effort to get closer. “Say that again?”

“I’m very serious and I’ll say it again...” she paused, enjoying the moment just a tiny bit before the shrieking she knew would be coming started. “We have tickets to Vero Nixon’s concert in 3 weeks...”

“What?!!!! Oh my God!!!!!” Josie squealed and then shrieked dramatically.

The outburst got everybody’s attention, even big brother Drew’s in the front passenger seat. Ali laughed but nobody could hear anything besides Josie’s excited yammering for the next 5 minutes solid.

“Wait, so how many people can I bring?” the exuberant girl finally asked, breathless.

“Why do you think you get to bring people?” Ali frowned into the rear-view mirror at her greedy daughter. “How about, ‘thank you Mom, I’m really glad you got a ticket for me’” she quirked her eyebrow as the rest of the riders listened to the conversation that had all the markings of turning into an argument. It all depended on how patient Ali was that afternoon and how bratty Josie felt like being. The eyeroll from the redhead answered that question post haste and Ali’s sharp tongue lashed out with more restraint than even she expected. “You did NOT just roll your eyes at me, did you? Because I will give your ticket to aunt Syd so fast you won’t even know what happened...”

“No, no! I didn’t roll my eyes...” Josie started her damage control but also found herself battling her siblings too.

“Yeah you did” Dodge laughed from the back row, right behind the redhead. “I saw you in the mirror.”

“I saw you too” Drew added. “Don’t start lying now too” he chuckled and rolled his own eyes at his sister. “You’re only making it worse.”

“I didn’t see her roll her eyes” Lily finally chimed in from the other end of the back row. “But I can’t really see anything from here so...” she giggled.

Cristina, in the back row with the twins, and Edgar, in the other middle row seat next to Josie, knew better than to get involved. Auntie Ali was tough when she was mad and they tried hard not to make her mad. Thankfully the brunette didn’t get mad very often.

“Ok, that’s enough you guys. Stay out of it and let Josie and I clear this up” Ali spoke sharply but they all knew from the tone of her voice that she wasn’t really that angry. Yet. “Do you wanna try that again Jose?” the eyebrow quirk was the most severe one in the brunette’s arsenal.

“Yeah,” Josie sighed and almost rolled her eyes again out of habit but caught herself at the last possible second. Her eyes went wide at the close call. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it” she got out in her normal, well-behaved speaking voice.

“Annnd?” Ali prompted, still watching her daughter’s face in the rear-view mirror.

“And what?” Josie asked, truly dumbfounded.

“Thank her for the ticket, dummy” Dodge prompted quietly, kicking the seat from behind for emphasis.

“Oh, right. Umm, thank you very much for the ticket mom. I can’t wait to go.”

Ali could tell that Josie meant it. She was usually a pretty good kid when it came to those types of things. But the mere mention of Vero Nixon, Josie’s idol, had turned the girl into a bratty version of herself that nobody really liked. One last glance in the mirror showed the brunette Josie’s sincere smile. The smile that could melt either parent’s heart on the spot. Good, sweet Josie was back and she was genuinely happy to have a ticket to the concert.

“That’s better. It’s exciting, I know, but let’s not lose our heads here” Ali cautioned one last time with a smiling eyebrow quirk. She let the lighter mood start to filter through the tense minivan before delivering the best news of all. “We’ve got a suite so you can all bring one friend with you...”

She never got to finish because the minivan erupted in cheers from all the kids.

“Ed and Cris too?” Drew double-checked.

“Yep, as long as their dads can make it work. They’re invited too” Ali grinned when she saw the Guerrero faces light up at the possibility. “I’m pretty sure they’ll make it work” she made sure to say loudly enough for Edgar and Cristina to hear her over the ruckus.

The suite at the biggest arena in Boston was full of lots of people when it was finally September 2nd and time for the concert. Sydney and her three boys, Molly and Penny Cross, Whitney and Becca Flanagan, Kyle and Nathan and their kids, Meg and Charlie, all four young Krieger kids plus their besties, Ali, Ashlyn, and Deb and Sandi Leroux. All 26 of them had an incredible time all throughout the show. But the highlight of the night would be hard to choose between two momentous experiences. One was after the show when the Krieger family went to see Vero Nixon in her dressing room. The superstar couldn’t have been nicer or more accommodating. She spoke with each kid and took pictures and signed anything they wanted. Ashlyn didn’t want to take advantage of the star’s good nature so she hustled everybody out of there faster than anybody really wanted. But meeting Vero and talking with her had been mind-blowing for the kids. 

The other experience had come before the dressing room meeting and had definitely left an indelible impression on young miss Josephine. Ashlyn got to bring the redhead backstage to watch the big finale from just off to the side of the stage, the wings. The keeper swore she saw the change in Josie’s entire body during that 10-minute span of time. It was as if all the molecules got up and moved around and then settled back into place, but slightly shifted. Ashlyn knew the look on Josie’s face too. It was the look of a young person who had seen and recognized their own dream for the first time. She was afraid for her daughter, she couldn’t deny it, but she was also thrilled for Josie getting to feel that moment. Ashlyn knew the girl would never forget it as long as she lived.

As they did their best to stay out of the way after the finale and encore, and wait for Ali to bring down the rest of their family, Josie looked up at her Mama. Ashlyn saw the sparkle in those beautiful blue eyes and beamed down at the girl.

“I wanna do that, Mama” she pointed over at the stage where the crew was already busy cleaning up and resetting things for the show the next night. “That’s gonna be me someday.”

It was with a mother’s mixed emotions that Ashlyn replied, still beaming.

“I can’t wait to see you out there Little One. I know you can do it.”


	34. New Routines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody. I've got about 3 chapters left to write, and you're almost caught up with me again. That's what happens when life makes you take almost the entire month of September off from writing. :(  
> Anyway, enjoy this chapter please.   
> I'll post every few days now as I've been doing the last couple of weeks. Thanks for your patience. We're getting there and I appreciate the hell out of you!  
> Also - decisive Game 5 of the WNBA playoffs tonight! Go Mystics!!!!!  
> Finally, Ali Krieger is listed as OUT on the injury report for the last game of the season this Saturday. Total bummer. But I hope her knee gets better soon.

The first two weeks of September 2033 were hot and humid and felt just like summer. Kids went to school in shorts and tank tops and flip flops to try and survive the heat in the non-air-conditioned buildings. It didn’t work. After-school activities were cancelled or shortened to avoid heat stroke and the first Saturday afternoon soccer games of the season were moved to the evening hours to keep the kids out of the sun. The only person who was happy about the weather was Ashlyn. The Florida girl was in her element and her vegetable garden flourished with the extension of its plentiful growing season. Ali wilted during the sweltering soccer practices two evenings a week, Tuesdays for Josie’s team and Thursdays for Lily’s. Dodge was still playing up and the brunette did not regret her decision to step back from officially coaching her talented son’s team. For the first September in 10 years Ali didn’t coach Drew’s youth soccer team. He was a high school freshman and was playing for the high school coach now. It was a far more difficult adjustment than the brunette expected and she took the change hard.

“Where is everybody?” Ashlyn asked as she walked into the dining room with Drew Thursday evening after picking him up from Ethan’s and taking him to buy some new equipment for the varsity soccer team. He was a swing player. He started every game for the Junior Varsity team but also worked with the varsity squad when they needed another body.

Josie lifted her head up from her homework as if in a daze. She looked around the empty first floor of the house and noticed how quiet it was.

“Hel-lo?” the keeper waved her hand to get her daughter’s attention again, an expectant look on her questioning face.

“Umm, Dodgie’s at Mikey’s, he stayed for dinner...” she paused, her face scrunched up as she tried hard to answer the question. “I think Lily’s in the backyard with Logan and Frankie” she tried to look out the window nearest her chair but couldn’t see her sister or the dogs. It shouldn’t have been a surprise because the dining room mostly looked out onto the side yard in front of the backyard fence. “Micky came over to see them and they went out so she could see Frankie’s new trick...”

“Where’s mom?” Ashlyn asked impatiently as she moved into the family room at the back of the house to look into the backyard.

“Can I go downstairs?” Drew was also impatient to get on with the rest of his evening.

“She went for a walk.”

“What?” Ashlyn frowned because both kids had spoken at the same time and she hadn’t heard Josie’s answer. She waved at Lily and Micky Donaldson through the big window by the nook table and then started to move back towards the dining room and the two kids that were inside the house. “No, you can’t go downstairs. You have homework, don’t you?” she answered her son. “Or did you do it while you were playing video games after practice at Ethan’s?” she quirked an eyebrow at the boy who rolled his eyes but smiled sheepishly. He pulled a dining room chair out and dropped his backpack on the table with a heavy sigh. “I didn’t think so” Ashlyn shook her head but returned his smile as she ruffled his hair, longer now than it had been in the past. “Where did you say mom was honey?” she returned her attention to Josie who was already back in her science textbook.

“She went for a walk.”

Ali had started taking walks by herself that Spring, whenever she found the time. She usually took the dogs but sometimes she didn’t. Sometimes she just wanted complete solitude, and to walk without having to carry small bags of poop with her. Ashlyn knew that her wife had a lot of things on her mind that year, big things. The brunette still struggled with the terrifying ‘what ifs’ from the incident at Fenway Park back in April. And that was on top of her ongoing concern for her mother after Mike Christopher’s death back in November. Now, it seemed as if the brunette was having a hard time with the new school year and everything that it meant in terms of the kids growing up so damned fast. Drew – in high school already! Meg – about to graduate college! Josie – getting her very first boyfriend the first week of 7th grade. Ali had bawled her eyes out after they took the twins to the first day of 5th grade that week. It was the last first day of school the family would ever have at East Gloucester Elementary school and that thought rocked the brunette’s world. That school had become as much a part of their lives as the big old house was by that point. They had been spending so much time there, all four kids and both moms, for 10 years. It had been 10 years already since they first brought Drew there for kindergarten. 10 fucking years gone...just like that!

Back to school time was often very emotional for both Ashlyn and Ali but this year seemed extra hard, especially for the brunette.

“There she is” Ashlyn’s face broke into a dimpled grin at the sight of her wife an hour later. It was 8:15pm. She crossed the length of the kitchen, from the sink by the backstairs to the refrigerator by the mudroom, and gave Ali a hug. Logan and Frankie circled their legs with wiggles and whines. “Everything ok? Have a good walk?” she asked with her chin over the brunette’s shoulder.

“Yeah. I’m good” Ali kissed her keeper’s cheek and then opened the refrigerator for a drink once they separated. She petted both dogs who had moved to help her with whatever she was doing in the big box with the yummy things inside it. “Everything ok here?”

They were still nervous leaving the kids alone for any real length of time, especially if Dodge was home. As soon as Josie reminded Ashlyn that Dodge had gone to Mikey’s for dinner the keeper relaxed about the girls being home by themselves. And, knowing Ali, she had probably planned her walk to coincide as closely as possible with Ashlyn and Drew’s return. They were ok leaving Drew and Josie by themselves at 14 and 12 and, honestly, if it had just been the two of them Ali and Ashlyn wouldn’t even get babysitters for them at all anymore. But adding the 10-year old twins to the mix was tough, particularly daredevil Dodge. It was too much for Drew and Josie to handle and the moms didn’t want to ask them to do more than they were equipped for. Babysitters were a must if Dodge was involved.

“Yep” Ashlyn nodded and moved back to the kitchen sink to finish washing the ice cream scoop that had fallen to the floor in the melee of kids clamoring for their evening treat. “I’m about to have ice cream, want some?”

“Oooh, yes. Please and thank you” Ali smiled and leaned against the counter by the fridge drinking her water. “Where are the monkeys?”

“Josie and Dodge are eating ice cream and watching tv” she nodded towards the front living room. “They’re both showering in the morning. Lily is supposed to be getting into the shower but I haven’t heard the girls’ bathroom shower go on yet” Ashlyn rolled her eyes and got two bowls out of the cabinet near her wife and set them on the counter next to the fridge.

“I’ll go check on her while you do that” Ali gave her keeper a hug from behind, resting her cheek against Ashlyn’s shoulder blade and sighing contentedly. “Drew downstairs?”

“No, ah, he’s showering too” the blonde sighed. “He’s been in there for almost half an hour now...”

“Oh God” Ali cringed. “Ok, well I’ll check on him too. God help me.”

“Make sure you knock first” Ashlyn cautioned as they exchanged a knowing, terrified look. “Jesus Christ...”

Now that all four kids had turned 10 and earned more freedom, the nighttime and morning schedules were much more fluid. It was both good and bad and required more management from the moms. Whichever mom was home with the kids at night had to update the other one when she came home with whichever kid had been at practice or rehearsal or whatever. The kids each had their own preference for when they took their shower, for example. Night owl Lily chose to continue taking hers at night, which was fine with both moms because the blonde’s long hair was still a bitch to deal with. The idea of trying to incorporate that into the hectic morning routine gave them both fits. Early riser Dodge thought it made more sense for him to shower in the morning. He was also the fastest showerer of the bunch so Ali and Ashlyn happily agreed with his plan. So far there had only been a few occasions where he hadn’t gotten himself clean enough and had to go back in after failing the smell check. Josie had begun taking her showers in the morning last year when it first occurred to her that it was a possibility. She didn’t like the way her hair was often full of static or extra kinks if she showered at night and then slept on it. She was becoming every bit the appearance-conscious 12-year old. And Drew hated getting up in the morning, as he always had. There was no way he was going to get up any earlier than he absolutely had to and that included for extra time to shower. He continued to shower at night, often right before he went to bed.

The general routine at night was similar to what it had always been, but the kids were allowed to branch out and tweak it their own way. Dinner was still at 5:30pm for anybody who was home. After dinner was homework and/or music instrument practice if neither had been done after school. Then snack time and tv time where they still tried to watch a show or half a movie together as a family. Storytime was becoming less popular, but the twins still enjoyed it so Ali and Ashlyn still read a chapter from the family’s shared book every night at about 8:15pm. Josie liked it too, more often than not, but Drew rarely joined them anymore. Then everybody in bed by 8:30pm. They could read in bed until 9:00pm but then one of the moms came up and got all the electronics for the night. 

The after-school schedule was very similar – relax for a while if you were home, then homework or music instrument practice before dinner. All three younger kids had soccer practice one evening a week, a music instrument private lesson in Rockport once a week, and then play rehearsal right after school if they were participating in the semester production at school. Josie and Lily always took part in the plays, each at her own school. Dodge did occasionally, but not in the Fall because he played both soccer and football and he didn’t have enough time. Drew’s high school soccer team practiced two afternoons a week, right after school. Drew also played for the same travel soccer team as he had the past couple of years, with Ethan again, and they practiced one evening a week, then again on Saturday, and then had their game on Sunday.

Dodge chose to play youth football instead of travel league soccer as his second team in the Fall. He practiced one evening a week for his youth soccer team, just like Josie and Lily did with their teams. The only difference was that Ali coached her daughters’ teams. Then Dodge’s football team practiced Saturday afternoon and had their game on Sunday. 

Josie had soccer practice with Ali one evening a week. Then she had her flute lesson in Rockport once a week and her private piano lesson at home every Monday afternoon. She had play rehearsal twice a week after school when there was a play in production which was once per semester. There was a Fall play and a Spring play. There were also band and chorus concerts that all four kids had been participating in. They all enjoyed their music as much as their sports. It would be interesting to see how Drew balanced everything now that he was in high school. That was usually when the additional homework and studying made it difficult to keep up with both interests. He loved playing the trumpet but both his moms knew that being in band wasn’t anywhere near as cool as playing sports. They honestly hoped all of their kids would keep up their music but knew it was a longshot. Not including Josie, obviously. She would choose music and drama club over sports any day, and she loved sports too and was a great athlete. But music was her thing and she was starting to embrace it more and more. She played piano in jazz band and flute in concert band and she sang in the chorus too. 

Drew played trumpet in concert band but had opted out of chorus for the first time, now that he was in 9th grade. Dodge played drums in concert band and was certainly good enough to play in jazz band once he got to middle school next year. And Lily, as was so often the case with the quirky blonde, had given up the French Horn after just one year of it. She had wanted to learn a brass instrument like her big brother Drew, but she hated how large the French Horn was. She also thought it was gross the way she sometimes had to put her hand inside the bell to play it correctly. Last year, in 4th grade, she switched to flute. She didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that she would probably never be as accomplished at it as her musically gifted sister. Both moms had to admit it was a hell of a lot easier carrying a flute case around than it was the French Horn.

Lily’s weekly schedule was the simplest of them all because she didn’t do a second team sport like her brothers and she didn’t have a private home lesson like her sister did. She almost decided to play for the travel soccer team – she was definitely good enough. Ashlyn maintained her belief that Lily was probably the best natural athlete in the family, just as good as Dodge but without his extraordinary strength. But she just didn’t practice with enough conviction or regularity. She played when she felt like it and did other things that piqued her interest when she didn’t feel like playing. It was a source of constant frustration for both of her moms. 

Similarly, the mornings were hectic but in a different way now that the kids were big enough to feed themselves and get themselves ready for school. At least for the most part. Microwave oatmeal, toast, cereal with milk, and eggos or poptarts in the toaster were big favorites for breakfast. Ali or Ashlyn would also make scrambled cheesy eggs for anybody who wanted them, assuming they were up and ready in time to eat them before heading out the door to catch the bus – Drew and Josie, or getting into the minivan for Ali to drive them to school – Dodge and Lily. 

Josie got up at 6am and showered and was downstairs by 6:30am for breakfast so she could be out the door by 7am to catch the bus for middle school. Drew slept until 6:15am, got ready, ate breakfast and left the house at 6:45am to catch the bus to Gloucester High School. Dodge got up at 7am, showered, and was downstairs by 7:20am for breakfast. He spent 20 minutes eating and then watched cartoons in the family room until it was time to get into the minivan with Ali and Lily at 8:15am. Sometimes he stayed in his seat at the nook table and watched the tv at the other end of the family room, but usually he moved to the couch and hung out with the dogs while he watched. Lily got up at 7am as well but dawdled getting ready. She didn’t have to shower but she still didn’t make it down to breakfast until 7:30 or sometimes even 7:40am. She ate breakfast slowly too and finished just in time to leave the house.

Ali got up at 6am, made sure Josie was up and in the shower, and then got in her own shower. Ashlyn got up at 6:30am to make breakfast for Josie and Drew and make sure they got out the door on time. Ali was always downstairs by 6:45am to at least see Drew off as the first kid out the door at 6:45am. Depending on how the morning went, either Ali or Ashlyn would go up and make sure the twins were up at 7am. This task was predominantly about getting Lily out of bed and dressed. Then the four of them would eat breakfast together, or at least part of it together. If Ashlyn had to go into Boston for the day she would hop in the shower once the twins were downstairs and it was clear that Ali had a handle on getting them both out the door on time. It was hectic and stressful some days, but other days it could be easy with some genuinely sweet moments, especially with the twins at their more reasonable time of the morning.

The kids did more chores now too. They were all over 10 years old so they all took turns mowing the lawn. Lily was the only one who didn’t like it or see it as the ultimate prize of chores. She thought it was too loud and she yelped and jumped every time anything other than grass hit the blade and made that loud cracking sound you could hear all through the neighborhood. The little blonde traded chores with any sibling who was willing, and the most agreeable, by far, was Dodge. Drew and Josie had both gotten over the mystique of mowing the lawn. To them it was just another chore to do, even though it was a symbol of their older kid status. Now that the twins were doing it too, even that status thrill was gone for Drew and Josie. But to Dodge it was still fresh and new and exciting. The hysterical part of it all was watching Drew try to coach Lily, and Josie try to advise Dodge, in their trade negotiations. The redhead knew her little brother pretty well and knew that he would more than likely agree to do the lawn mowing without even asking for a chore swap in return. That couldn’t happen. It would upset the equilibrium of chores in the household and set a dangerous precedent for any future chore bartering that the kids might want to do. She advised Dodge to at least ask for two smaller chores in exchange, if not three. Drew, on the other hand, urged Lily to try and treat it as the desirable chore that it was – at least in the eyes of her twin brother. Drew told her to try for the easiest chore in exchange, and only that one easy chore, knowing that Dodge was excited about mowing the lawn now that he was finally old enough to do it.

“So Lily actually mowed the lawn today?” Ali asked with more than a little surprise in her voice the very next evening. It was the first Friday of the school year and she had just come home from work after picking Drew up from his trumpet lesson up in Rockport. She was changing out of her work clothes when the keeper came up the backstairs to greet her.

“Ah, no she did not” Ashlyn chuckled as she dropped herself into the gliding chair near the door to the backstairs after hugging and kissing her beautiful brunette. “We had some wheeling and dealing going on I’ll tell ya” she shook her head and grinned while Ali moved to her closet on the other side of the bed. “We might have some top-level agents in the making here.”

“Oh geez, did she make Dodge do it?”

“I wouldn’t say make...” Ashlyn laughed. “They traded, fair and square.”

“Oh he would have done it for her if she just asked him” Ali chuckled. “He loves doing it. I had to tell him to slow down last time though” she laughed.

“Well big bro and big sis got involved...”

“Of course they did” Ali rolled her eyes and chuckled again as she stepped out of her dress pants and inspected them to see if they needed to go to the dry cleaner yet. “Drew was her consiglieri?” she asked and without waiting for an answer went right into a terrible impersonation of Don Corleone from the Godfather. “He helped her make Dodger an offer he couldn’t refuse?”

“Yeah, pretty much” Ashlyn laughed loudly at her wife. “That wasn’t half bad baby” she grinned again.

“Oh it was awful. You just love me, that’s all” the brunette smiled back at her gratefully.

“You’re right about one of those things sugarplum” Ashlyn beamed back at her wife before an alarm on her phone went off. “Oh shit, gotta get a move on” she jumped up. “Ordering pizza tonight still ok?”

“Oh yeah, Meg’s game is at 6pm, right?” Ali hopped towards the foot of the bed as she pulled some joggers up her legs. “Did you check on the stream yet? Yes, pizza’s good but get me a salad too, please.”

As they both scrambled down the backstairs to get dinner arranged for the kids and everybody situated near the tv to watch BC play the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Ali realized she didn’t know the outcome of the big chore trade.

“So what kind of deal did they work out anyway, Lily and Dodge?”

“Oh” Ashlyn laughed as they got to the bottom of the backstairs. “She had to do the poop check before he mowed...”

“That’s more than fair” Ali giggled.

“And two nights of dishes” the keeper finished the offer Dodge hadn’t been able to refuse with another chuckle.

“That’s not bad at all” Ali considered the arrangement. “What’s so funny then?”

“Oh just the way they did it Al, I swear to God” she shook her head, face full of amusement and love for her kids. “It was hysterical to watch. Everybody had an angle they were trying to play, except for Dodge of course.”

“Of course” Ali smiled at the thought of their easy to read boy. It was that innocence, that purity, that saved him from being a real pain in the ass. “He just wanted to mow the damned lawn.”

“You know it” the keeper smiled as she thought about the boy. “That kid should never ever play poker.”

//

Josephine Marie Krieger was still smaller than most of her contemporaries, but not by too much. Her mothers and her doctor had been telling her that she might stay more diminutive than her friends and schoolmates and siblings for the rest of her life. But she might not. The truth was, nobody doubted the strength of purpose of the 12-year old to simply will herself to grow. When Josie put her mind to something, she usually achieved whatever it was she had aimed for. Who were Ashlyn, Ali, and Dr. Comello to tell her otherwise? The young redhead was shorter and skinnier than other girls her age. Her orangey-red hair and fair, freckled skin further set her apart, and that didn’t even take into account her giraffe birthmark on the left side of her neck that was impossible to miss. The last three years, 4th grade through 6th grade, had taught her innumerable lessons about co-existing with other kids as an equal instead of as a supervisor of some sort. Josie had learned the hard way that nobody wanted to play with a bossypants know-it-all. 

Josie’s best friend at school was still Kayla, but her best friend and closest confidante in life was James Dwyer. He was her person and she was his. It was with James that young Josie felt most herself. He never made her feel small or odd or anything but her truest self. James wasn’t just a pushover either. He was as laid back as a person could be, but he still called Josie out on her shit when necessary. Their friendship reminded Ali and Sydney of their own relationship in many ways. Josie was a lot like Ali in many ways but even more driven and focused than the brunette had been as a young girl trying to become the best soccer player she possibly could be. And James was more relaxed than Sydney had been. Sydney might have been as chill as her middle child had she grown up with a mom and a dad, or with parents who had the same skin color as her own, but no-one would ever know if that was true or not.

It was only natural then that the girl who was smaller than everybody else and whose body seemed to be developing slower than anybody else’s, would wait a year to hit another big adolescent milestone. Josie officially started dating a year later than everybody else, in 7th grade instead of 6th grade. Mid-way through the second week of school, Ashlyn and Ali found themselves discussing the expected, but still somewhat surprising turn of events.

“I know, but...” Ashlyn paused as she tried to find the words to help explain what she was feeling that night. “I guess I just hoped maybe she would skip the whole dating thing.”

The two moms were in bed and trying to relax after a stressful week of trying to iron out the kinks in the busy Krieger family school and activities schedules.

“Are you kidding?” Ali lifted her head, pushed her glasses up higher on her nose, and fixed her wife with an incredulous look. 

“Not really” the keeper shrugged sheepishly. “I don’t know, she’s so smart and mature and I thought maybe she just wasn’t interested in boys yet.”

“Or girls” the brunette corrected with a quirk of her eyebrow and a chuckle.

“Well yeah, duh” Ashlyn rolled her eyes and laughed softly. She put her glasses on the nightstand, turned off her light, got under the covers and rolled onto her left side towards her wife. “She’s always been such a guy girl though.”

“I know” Ali sighed at the statement of fact. It was more from weariness than frustration or disappointment though. “I think deep down she still expects to grow up and marry Koty.”

They both chuckled at that notion and then were quiet for a minute. Ali decided the schedule tweaking could wait another day and put away the laptop. Before the brunette had a chance to slide down under the covers, Ashlyn moved closer and snuggled her head into her wife’s lap with a satisfied hum.

“Mmmmmm...”

Ali smiled at the sweet move and let her hands find their way through the soft, shaggy hair they knew so well.

“I’m just surprised she picked Cole” the brunette chuckled after another minute with both women deep in thought.

“Well who did you think she’d pick?” Ashlyn laughed. “He’s a music kid and he’s been in a couple of plays. Did you think she’d bring home the star quarterback or something?”

“No” Ali laughed with her wife and then sighed heavily as a wave of exhaustion hit her. She wanted to get under the covers but was enjoying the blonde’s head in her lap. “I don’t know. He’s kind of a drip, isn’t he? If I’m thinking of the right kid.”

“You’re definitely thinking of the right kid” Ashlyn chuckled and hugged Ali’s thighs as she nuzzled deeper into her lap. “He was the boy with the lisp in the Lion King, two Springs ago, with Josie...”

“Oh God, really?”

Neither Ashlyn nor Ali were making fun of the kid for having a lisp. They knew firsthand after dealing with Lily’s stutter that a speech impediment could affect every aspect of a child’s young life, and usually did. But Cole had been given a role in the play that had quite a lot of lines and it had never made sense to the two moms. It stressed the kid out because it was too much for him and it confused the audience because they literally couldn’t understand what he was saying most of the time. By all means, give him a speaking role in the play. More power to him. But maybe not one of the leads.

“Yep. He’s nice though. He helped out with the sets at the Spring play last year. Total dork but I’m starting to see the appeal, thanks to Charlie.”

“You’re the worst” Ali laughed and gave her wife a gentle poke to her side, making her squeal and squirm.

“What?” Ashlyn giggled.

“You are so tough on anybody the kids date” Ali shook her head but kept smiling. “Let me get into bed” she nudged the keeper.

“Oh like you approve of everybody Meg and Drew have dated?” Ashlyn challenged as she held up the covers for her wife to snuggle under.

“This middle school dating thing is so weird to me, I don’t even think we need to approve of anybody. And Meg brought home two guys basically” Ali got herself situated on her back and let her keeper return to her position and hold her from the side like she usually did to Ashlyn. “What are you gonna do when Drew or Josie start dating somebody for real in a year or two?”

“A year or two?!”

“Drew’s in high school this year babe. I know you know this...”

“Yeah but we were talking about Josie and you just gave me a heart attack” Ashlyn squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head at the frightening thoughts.

“I know...” Ali let out a sad, wistful sigh as she trailed her hand up and down her wife’s back underneath the covers. “It’s all scary when you think about it.”

“You’re having a tough time this year huh?” Ashlyn lifted her head and pressed a soft, warm kiss into her wife’s neck.

“Yeah, I am” the brunette’s voice was quiet and sad.

“I’m sorry baby.”

“I know, thanks” Ali tried to shake the idea of their little kids being big enough to date and go to high school out of her own head. “I’ll be ok.”

“And so will they” Ashlyn tried to encourage and soothe at the same time, her voice soft and sweet and full of care and concern. “We’ll all get through it together. Like always.”

“I know, I mean my head knows that...I just have to get my heart to stop hurting so much. That’s all.”

//

Ashlyn and Ali had both participated in the Elementary School’s ‘take your child to work’ days in the past with all four of the young Krieger kids. The school did it every year for grades 1-5 and it had become a challenge for the Krieger moms once the twins joined in the fun in the Fall of 2029. That was the only year they had all four kids in grades 1-5 and they hadn’t been sure what to do. The 2 years before that, they had just taken turns with Drew and Josie. When Josie was in first grade she went to work with Ali while 3rd grader Drew went to the MHI with Ashlyn for the day. Then they switched the year after. 2029 was Drew’s last year of elementary school and he had asked to go to work with both moms when a wave of nostalgia hit him. He had gone to work twice with each mom thus far and couldn’t decide what to do for his fifth and final year.

“Let’s just trade ‘em off” Ashlyn had suggested to her wife that year, that horrible year of 2029 when their world had been turned upside down by Ali’s crazy stalker. In early September they had still been blissfully unaware of the level of stalkery behavior that Emily Quindlen was capable of. “Half the day with each of us. Two for you in the morning and two for me. Then we switch at lunch time.”

“That just might work” Ali had considered the possible solution. “Split the twins up...”

“Yeah, we can do boys and girls, or not...” the keeper shrugged at the minor details.

“I don’t want to do boys and girls though” the brunette countered with a slight frown. “I want a boy and a girl each and we’ll show them that it doesn’t matter what you are when it comes to work. Girls can run companies too, just like boys.”

That had been the beginning of the trade-off plan for bringing the kids to work as part of the elementary school’s program. It had been successful the past four years and would, no doubt, be successful again this last year of their participation in the program, 2033. Ashlyn made sure she had a day with some office duties at the MHI and got dressed in one of her business suits for the special day each September. Part of her wanted to wear her usual casual clothes and show the kids what she did from the home office in the loft of the garage. It had taken her a long time to learn to value and respect that work in the same way she did the time she physically spent in the MHI or K-H offices, but she had done it. Her contributions were just as important when they were made from her desk in the garage, regardless of what clothes were on her body or the state of her hair. She wanted to show the kids that scenario just as much as she wanted to show them that women could be powerful in business and have the corner office in the big buildings in downtown Boston. But she knew they wouldn’t understand it. It had taken her well into her 40’s to truly grasp the concept herself. There was no way the 10-year old twins were going to get it.

“Well look at you” Ali enthused as she stepped into Dodge’s room the morning of Tuesday September 20th, 2033. “You put your suit on to come to work with me today” she grinned from ear to ear as she took in the sight of her youngest son who was struggling with his clip-on tie. “You look very nice honey. Can I help you with your tie?”

“It’s for Mama too” Dodge clarified after dropping his hands to his sides in frustration and allowing his mother to help affix the tie to his buttoned-up shirt collar.

“Of course it is. You look handsome and very business-like and the people in both of our offices are going to be very impressed” she nodded, straightening up after finishing with the tie.

Her heart panged just a little bit when she saw Dodge in the black suit they had bought for him to wear to Mike Christopher’s funeral last year. It had been 10 months already and she was surprised the boy hadn’t completely outgrown the suit yet. She could see the pants were a bit short but not terribly so. 14-year old Drew was the one who was growing like a weed right now.

“But I don’t have a suit to wear” Lily whined from the doorway with the beginnings of what looked like a doozy of a hissyfit on the way.

She had worn regular school clothes, as all of her siblings had always done in the past. The unbearably hot weather had cooled off substantially by the third week of September and Lily wore purple leggings with a white top with purple and pink horizontal stripes to match. She looked cute with her hair in a neat braid down her back and a thin pink sweater around her waist for when she got cold in one of her mothers’ offices. Nobody had told Dodge to put the suit on that morning, he had just decided that was what he wanted to do that day. They were all surprised by it.

“Ok, are we ready to go?” Ashlyn’s beaming face came into view as she stood behind the smaller blonde still in the doorway, unaware of the trouble brewing.

Ali tried to get her wife’s eye and tell her not to make a big deal out of Dodge’s suit but it was too late. The keeper barely finished her previous sentence before getting excited about her son’s sartorial choice.

“Wow Dodger! You look awesome my dude!”

Lily stomped her foot and burst into tears, right on cue. Ali dropped her chin to her chest in defeat while her wife looked down at the girl in front of her in complete confusion. At first Ashlyn thought she must have stepped on Lily or something.

“I’m not going!!” she bawled.

“Aw Wee, come on” Dodge sighed and shook his head with more compassion than most other members of the family ever showed for Lily’s periodic hissyfits. “You look nice too” he nodded and moved to stand in front of her. He cocked his head as he studied her contorted face in mid-tantrum. He paid her a sweet compliment, hoping it would help. “That braid is cool.”

“What is going on now?” Ashlyn’s jaw dropped at the scene unfolding right under her nose. “What happened?” she looked quizzically at her wife who blew out a big breath and put her hands on her hips in frustration.

“She doesn’t have a suit to wear” Ali stated matter-of-factly, feeling both annoyed by Lily’s overdramatic outburst and disappointed in herself for not seeing this coming. 

The natural progression for the girl’s gender-bending clothing choices when it came to getting dressed up would be for her to wear a full suit instead of just dress pants, ties and vests. The brunette had a flash forward to Lily’s senior prom and she could see her beautiful daughter at ease in either a frilly dress or a suit and tie.

“Aw, sweet pea, it’s ok” Ashlyn squatted down and turned her crying daughter around so they were face to face. She looked up into Lily’s red, tear-streaked face and wanted to cry right along with her. “I’m sorry honey. We didn’t think of that. You don’t need to wear a suit today though” she tried to reason with the upset girl. “Dodge just felt like it I guess” she shrugged.

“Yeah, I just felt like it. That’s all” he chimed in, still trying to be helpful.

“But you...have one...too” she sobbed into her Mama’s face.

Ashlyn was wearing a suit but she didn’t have a tie on or even a collared shirt. But she looked dressed up as she usually did for their bring your kid to work days.

“Listen, how about we do a matching outfit again?” the keeper proposed with hopeful enthusiasm. “We can both go change, real quick. What do you think?”

Everybody held their breath for an endless 30 seconds as Lily whimpered and sniffled and pouted. Both moms had to bite back harsh words about sucking it up and making a big deal out of nothing as they watched their daughter try to make her decision. 

“You could put on a skirt like Mom too” Dodge suggested, with his own shrug.

“Whatever you decide, we need to do it now” Ali spoke for the first time in several minutes. Her voice was patient but strong – there wasn’t a lot of time left to indulge the fickle girl.

“What do you wanna do Lil, change into a skirt and get dressed up like mom” Ashlyn nodded as she locked eyes with the little blonde. “Or do shirts and ties and vests with me?”

“Come ON Wee...” Dodge groaned and rolled his eyes, his patience gone.

“Alright, Dodge, you come with me downstairs” Ali put her hand on the boy’s shoulder and guided him towards the bathroom he shared with his brother so they could go out through Drew’s room. “We’re leaving in 15 minutes Lily, no matter what you’re wearing.”

20 minutes later Ashlyn and Dodge backed out of the driveway in the Jeep, heading into Boston and the MHI. Ali and Lily followed them 2 minutes later in the minivan headed to Knight-Harris in Cambridge, the young blonde looking like a Catholic school girl. She wore one of Josie’s pleated plaid skirts, dark blue and black, with a crisp white button up shirt and a dark blue tie of Drew’s. She didn’t have the knee socks that typically went with that type of outfit, but she wasn’t trying to dress like a Catholic school girl. She was just trying to be Lily Krieger. She wore short white socks and her oxford shoes and she looked adorable, especially once she stopped crying and started smiling again. Both moms knew there would be drama later that night when the two older siblings saw their kid sister wearing their clothes. Drew would probably give Lily a hard time just to prove a point, but Josie was going to be mad. She was particular about her clothes and she took good care of them so they looked nice. And Lily did not. It would be one of the biggest things the two sisters fought about for the rest of the time they lived together at any stage of their lives.

The day went by quickly with the kid exchange at lunchtime. Ali and Lily drove into Boston because when Ashlyn made it into the MHI offices she usually had quite a few things to do. The brunette was at her office every day of the week so it was easier for her to take a longer lunch or leave early. Ashlyn’s office days were jam-packed with things to sign and promos to record and meetings with colleagues and potential strugglers and supporters of the Mental Health Initiative. There was always a big uptick in demand for information and assistance after World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10th and World Suicide Prevention Week that surrounded it. The keeper was busy.

Both Dodge and Lily had been well-behaved, inquisitive, and charming all morning long. They really were great kids and their moms appreciated special days like today where they were reminded exactly how great their kids were. On the way back to the MHI office after lunch, Ali and Dodge were walking behind Ashlyn and Lily on the busy Boston sidewalk. It was a beautiful day and the sun was shining through the big puffy clouds as businesspeople and couriers and tourists all made their way to and fro. Ali felt light and happy, despite the near-meltdown they had just avoided at the restaurant when Lily spilled ketchup on her shirt. The brunette had come to the rescue, whipping a stain remover pen out of her purse and saving the day. It also helped that Lily’s tie covered the worst of the mess – the part of the stain that not even Ali could eradicate, at least not without real laundering equipment and materials. The brunette watched the woman she loved talking with Lily just a few feet in front of her and smiled at the pair. Lily’s long thick braid reminded Ali so much of Ashlyn’s hair back when they had first met. The keeper’s game-day hair back then had been a thick braid down the middle of her back – just like the one Lily wore today. Then she took in the ease to Ashlyn that had always been so attractive to Ali. The blonde was comfortable in her own skin and it showed. That light that had always been inside her flowed out even more freely now that Ashlyn was older and wiser and more sure of herself as a woman and a wife and a mom and a professional businesswoman.

Lily, on the right, giggled up at her mother, on the left, and the look on both their faces, so similar in so many ways besides just the eye color, made Ali beam as she watched from behind. Just when she thought her heart couldn’t get any fuller from the interaction, the brunette saw her wife lift up her right foot and playfully kick Lily’s butt from behind. It was done in step and without disrupting the rhythm of either gait. Ashlyn had always done that. It was a Harris thing and had begun with she and her brother Chris kicking each other that way as kids. The kicks could be delivered with varying degrees of force and malice and Chris and Ashlyn had kicked the shit out of each other that way several times in their youth. Ashlyn used the silly but friendly maneuver on the people she held dearest in her heart. She had tapped Ali’s ass that way many times in the past as they walked together somewhere. She was always careful not to kick too hard and make her beautiful brunette lose her balance. And Ashlyn had done the same to Whitney and dozens of other friends and teammates over the years. The sweetest of all the love kicks delivered this way were to the children in the keeper’s life. Without question. Meg had been the first to receive one when she had been about 3-years old and the most recent recipient had been little 18-month old Tori Wild during her last visit to the big old house.

Ashlyn’s kick that September afternoon was cute and sweet and Ali chuckled as she beamed at the two blondes in front of her on the busy sidewalk. But when Lily, three steps later, returned her own playful little kick, this one to the back of her Mama’s thigh because it was as high as she could reach, Ali laughed her short, loud, shout of a laugh and made them both turn around to laugh with her. It was one of those simple but magical moments families shared. One of the little moments that made so many of the hard times easier to bear.

“Everything ok back there Mom?” Ashlyn quirked her eyebrow and then smiled at the brunette and her dimple appeared.

Ali gave her own nose-crinkling grin in return and put her arm around Dodge’s shoulders as they all kept walking. You could hear the powerful, unmistakable love in Ali’s voice as she spoke.

“Everything’s perfect. Just perfect.”


	35. Redheads

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sad the NWSL regular season is over, but a little relieved as well - especially for the Pride. What a brutal year for all of them. Yuck.  
> The highlight of the season for me was that they never ever gave up on a game, not ever. That says a lot about the team and I'm really hoping Ali's prediction/promise of "worst to first" for next season comes true.  
> And what is there to say about Sydney Leroux and Toni Pressley coming back to play again this season?? Unbelievable women, both of them. Seeing Toni run onto the pitch last night was amazing. And Marta finally getting the goal she had been so desperately trying to score all game long....for Toni...man, I was an emotional fool at the end of that game last night.  
> The NWSL is a hot mess. The league management is a joke, and a bad one at that. But the players and the teams who are giving it everything they've got every single week....those are the people I'm here for. I love the NWSL, hot mess or not.

The two redheads in the Krieger family had an amazing Fall that year. Meg was voted one of the two team captains for the Boston College Eagles as she began her fourth and final college season. The team typically elected one captain but had, occasionally, worked with two when the vote had been divided equally and both senior players agreed to the split. In Meg’s case it had been a no-brainer because the other senior was her best friend and roommate, Gwen. The cocky and talented forward had matured over the 3 years in the program and become a more team-oriented player. As was usually the case, the team’s performance increased accordingly as more players were convinced that Gwen had truly changed her ways. There would always be flashes of selfishness and brashness in the girl, she was still only 21 years old and far from perfect, but they were the exception nowadays – not the norm. Head coach Niki Cross was quick to give the Krieger family some of the credit for Gwen’s turnaround. Niki knew from personal experience that Ashlyn and Ali and all of their kids were about the team first. Meg embodied that belief better than any other BC Eagle and that was evident by the number of votes she had received for the captaincy. There were always going to be those who didn’t like the already powerful starting goalkeeper position to be the captain though, which was why the vote was split.

“You guys rubbed off on Gwen, and thank God you did” Niki joked at the four-family birthday party Sunday September 18th at the Dwyer house. 

It was a day before Cassius Dwyer’s 16th birthday and the teenager had even graced the gathering with his presence for a couple of hours before leaving for a birthday date with his 17-year old girlfriend. Several quips had been made to Sydney and Dom about the potential of becoming grandparents before their oldest was out of high school at the end of the next school year. Sandi Leroux laughed heartily, but Sydney and Dom did not appreciate the humor.

“Nah, that was all Meg” Ashlyn deflected the praise from Niki.

“I know she spends a ton of time with you guys” the coach persisted with an earnest look on her face. “It’s not like she can shoot home to Iowa every other weekend like so many of the players can. You guys have really helped anchor her and steady her. It’s just taken a few years to see the hard evidence, that’s all.”

“I thought being in North Carolina was a huge distance to be away from home” the keeper reminisced with a thoughtful half-smile. “And Satellite Beach was only a 9-hour drive away. I can’t imagine being half a country away” she shook her head. “How far is Iowa anyway? Twice that far? 16 hours? 18?”

“The capital of Iowa, Des Moines, is a 19-hour drive from our dorm” Meg interrupted the pair with a chuckle. She wrapped one long arm around each woman’s shoulders as she stood between them in the busy backyard. “Omaha, Nebraska is on the western border of Iowa and it’s 21 hours. But Gwen’s from the eastern edge of Iowa, the Quad Cities on the Mississippi River, and that’s 17-1/2 hours” she finished with a grin and a nod.

Ashlyn and Niki exchanged stunned looks while the redhead laughed between them.

“Tell me you didn’t know how far Torrance, California was when you were living with Whit” Meg challenged her stepmother with some sass.

“Alright” Ashlyn chuckled. “Good point. It’s still impressive kiddo” she wrapped an arm around Meg’s waist and gave it a squeeze. “All I remember is you ripping your hair out trying to memorize the 50 states and their capitals when you were in elementary school.”

“Look how far she’s come” Niki laughed approvingly.

“Ha ha, very funny” Meg poked her coach in the ribs and while Niki yelped the redhead turned her attention to Ashlyn. “Why are you talking about Iowa anyway? Planning the next family vacation?”

They all laughed at that one and it wasn’t intended as a knock on Iowa. The Krieger schedule was busy and making the effort to plot out a family vacation that wasn’t built around Ashlyn’s broadcast travel itinerary was not easy to do. There had to be something pretty special at the other end and, for the Kriegers, Iowa wasn’t it. 

“We were talking about you and your co-captain, wise guy” Ashlyn explained with pretend offense at the joke. “How do you know Des Moines isn’t next on my list of places I want to visit?”

“Ummm...because there’s no ocean there, for one...” the redhead began to rattle off reasons until they were all laughing hard again.

The truth was, Meg was very proud of her best friend. She had been one of Gwen’s biggest fans and supporters all along, but it hadn’t always been easy because the flashy forward used to be a pretty shitty teammate. Meg had gone to both Ashlyn and Ali for advice on how to handle it and her subtle nudges here and there had added up over the years and proven to be a wonderful influence on immature, selfish Gwen. Their friendship had been a little bumpier than usual with the recent addition of Charlie Applegate to the redhead’s daily schedule. Gwen wasn’t used to sharing her best friend with a boyfriend and had bristled at the intrusion – especially when soccer season rolled around in August. But they were figuring it out. Charlie was around a lot but, in Gwen’s eyes, it was better than having Meg gone with Charlie somewhere else altogether. 

The BC Eagles had started the season with 3 away games early that September. They had just played their 1st of 4 home games two nights earlier that would close out the month. That meant a lot of Hannah over the course of 2-1/2 weeks. There was a 5th home game the first Sunday in October as well, before 3 away games carried them into the middle of October. Hannah’s new condo was working out well for her and she regretted waiting until halfway through her daughter’s college career to buy it. The wealthy redhead had purchased a beautiful 3-bedroom condo in the toney Back Bay area of Boston, only a couple of blocks from the Charles River to the North and downtown Boston to the South. It was the same neighborhood Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen had lived in before they built their mansion in the Brookline suburb all those years ago. Hannah’s condo was in one of the beautifully preserved Victorian brownstones on Commonwealth Avenue. There was a lovely greenspace park, called the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, that separated the addresses on the North side of Commonwealth Ave from the ones on the South side. Commonwealth Ave had been designed in the style of a French boulevard and the greenspace was the expansive central promenade. The 32-acre park ran all the way, roughly east to west, from the Public Garden to the Mass Ave bridge that connected Boston to Cambridge on the north side of the Charles River. The elaborate and picturesque park system that Frederick Law Olmstead designed back in 1880, called the Emerald Necklace, began just on the other side of the Mass Ave bridge and the Commonwealth Ave Mall connected it with the Boston Public Garden and Boston Common to the East of the Back Bay neighborhood.

Hannah had hosted several pre-game dinners for Meg and the team last season and planned to do more of the same this season as well. For all of her faults, Hannah Doucette was generous with her money. Once she realized that her event-planning business was making enough cash to sustain her without the riches from her time spent with her ex-husband Dev, Hannah relaxed and started to enjoy her wealth more. She learned right away that what they said about letting your money work for you was a real concept that actually was 100% true. She had made some good investments that were earning her money all the time, in addition to her business down in the DC area. She toyed with the idea of opening up a second location in Boston or maybe New York City, but she didn’t want to have to work that hard. She didn’t want to try and find the right people to run another location. 

She relied on her business partner and confidante, Reenie Vega, to keep things in DC operating smoothly and lucratively and Reenie did just that. Why get greedy now? The redhead didn’t live like the Queen of Sheba or anything. Hannah knew how much money she needed to live off of and she spent a budgeted amount each year on other things like trips and travel and some splurges on clothes. She wasn’t a car person so she didn’t really care what she drove as long as it was reliable and shiny on the outside. But that was more about getting it washed every week than anything else. She loved living in nice places but wasn’t big into drafty, mostly empty mansions either. She had never liked Dev’s gaudy, extravagant mansion anyway. Why in the world would she buy her own now? Instead she stayed in the expensive but modest house in DC that she and Meg had picked out shortly after the divorce. And now she owned a luxury condo in Boston where she spent several weekends, and sometimes weeks at a time like that September, every Fall. She honestly didn’t know if she would keep it once Meg graduated or not. But that was the nice thing about real estate – it worked for you and made you money in land-value alone, even if you didn’t live in it very much. The one thing Hannah knew for certain was that she wasn’t going to worry about any of it that Fall. It was Meg’s last college soccer season and Hannah was going to focus exclusively on her baby girl. 

“So what ever happened between you and my mom anyway?” Meg asked a stunned Ali later that same Sunday evening at Sydney’s house.

The brunette choked on the sip of wine she had just taken, her eyes watering as she tried to cough the liquid out of her lungs. Sydney’s eyes went wide at the surprising question from her seat on the other side of the fire pit on the outdoor patio behind the house. Most of the 4-families had gone home and only the Kriegers remained. It was 7pm and the sun had just set. It was one of the coolest evenings in the sweltering September month so far and Dom had jumped at the chance to light the small fire, only to be shooed away from it by his wife. Sydney wanted some time, even if it was just 15 minutes, for peace and quiet with her bestie before the Kriegers left that night. Ashlyn and Dom and the kids were inside while the two women and the dogs were all out on the patio. They had gotten 5 minutes to themselves before Meg joined them, unaware of the intrusion she was causing.

“What...what do you mean, honey?” Ali sputtered as she finally got her hacking under control.

“You know...” Meg cocked her head and looked a little shy.

Ali blinked back at her, eyes still wet from choking, and saw the earnestness in the young woman’s green eyes. The brunette had always been a truth-teller for Meg and she knew right then and there that there was no way she would be able to stop now.

“Well,” Ali cleared her throat and took a tentative sip of wine, hoping not to choke again. “We just didn’t like each other very much” she said with a shrug, forcing herself to keep eye contact with Meg.

“I can let you guys talk...” Sydney started to get up.

“No, don’t go” Ali spoke quickly, a slight look of panic on her face as she peered over the flames at her longtime best friend. “You know the story anyway” she chuckled nervously.

“There’s a whole story?” Meg asked anxiously, looking from one woman to the other. She had never known two more honest people in her life and that’s why she had felt comfortable asking the question in that setting in the first place.

“Oh it’s not that exciting, trust me” Sydney chuckled as she got up and moved closer to the two occupied patio chairs. She sat in the one on the other side of Meg so the young woman was between the two older women. Surrounded by love and support. “But I’ll stay and make sure she gets it right” she winked and patted Meg’s shoulder.

Ali knew she didn’t have a ton of time because they were leaving to drive home to Gloucester very soon. She also didn’t want to dwell on the past too much. At the same time, she didn’t want to sugarcoat the truth or speed through the tale – it seemed disrespectful to both Meg and Hannah in a weird way. The brunette gave a brief history of the summer of 2015 as far as it pertained to Ashlyn and Hannah and herself. She didn’t go into the details as she painted a picture of a relationship that was being challenged by different interests and long-distance with some grief and relocation adjustment anxiety added in on Ashlyn’s part.

“So, I get why they broke up” Meg frowned a little after Ali gave her the sunny, summary version. “The long-distance thing didn’t work out, basically. But, like, why don’t you and mom like each other?” she asked again, simply. “You’re both so nice and everybody likes you both...I never understood it” she shook her head and looked down at her lap.

Ali and Sydney exchanged a quick look before the coach nodded her encouragement to her bestie. Ali knew that meant she needed to get to the point or Sydney would.

“Ok, well, I’m not sure there’s a simple answer to that sweetheart” the brunette began cautiously and sighed. “I wish there was. But...I don’t know” she shrugged, “your mom didn’t trust me I guess...”

“What, like she thought you were trying to steal Ash from her?”

“Yeah, I think so” Ali paused. “I don’t really know what was going on with your mom back then. That’s the truth. But I know, for me, I didn’t really like the way she treated Ashlyn.”

Ali felt her heart lurch when she heard her own words. She didn’t want to say anything bad about Hannah – nobody deserved to have their mother trashed like that. But to tell Meg her own truth, Ali was going to have to share some of the story. The brunette would just try her best to limit her answers to things from her own perspective. She wouldn’t speak for anybody else, not Hannah or Ashlyn. As Ali’s mind raced to find a way to do just that, Sydney’s voice filled the empty space that had followed the brunette’s last sentence.

“Listen, this was a long time ago and things were very different...for all of us” the coach smiled softly at the redhead. “I’ve heard your mom say herself that she wasn’t in a great place back then. She wasn’t feeling or acting like her best self.”

“And I know Ash says the same thing, about herself” Ali added after a minute. “They were trying hard to make their relationship work, but it just wasn’t working.”

“And mom was...mean to Ash? What do you mean ‘the way she treated her’?” Meg asked, with nothing but curiosity in her voice. She didn’t sound defensive or upset at all. She’d been wanting to have this conversation for as long as she could remember and had played it out hundreds of times in her head over the years.

“Well...” Ali paused, trying to find a way to describe what a fucking bitch Hannah had been back then without having to use those words. “Yeah, I guess you could say it was mean. More like thoughtless though. I think that’s a better word for it.”

“Like what though?”

“Tell her about Gram’s house” Sydney suggested quietly. “When you went down and surprised Ash for her birthday.”

Ali told an abbreviated version of the way Hannah had made a scene, even insulting Gram’s house, at the end of Ashlyn’s dirty 30 birthday party. She didn’t go into too many details, and she made a lot of possible excuses for Hannah’s behavior – the stress of travelling with a 3-year old, and of being with your girlfriend’s family, and all of this during a time when the relationship itself was already falling apart.

“Your mom apologized, more than once, and everybody forgave her of course” Ali added after Meg stayed quiet for more than a few seconds. 

“Not Papa” Meg shook her head as a puzzle piece fell into place inside her head. “I know he doesn’t like mom, I’ve always known that.”

“Did he ever tell you that?” Ali’s eyebrows were up, and she could feel her temper flare at the idea that Mike Harris had confessed something to sweet little Meg at some point.

“No, never” the redhead clarified quickly, sensing Ali’s rising anger. “I could just tell. He never stays if she’s around, not ever. He’s never in the same room with her if he can help it.”

Ali was shocked at how observant Meg must have been to notice something like that. Mike Harris was never the focal point of any room. He was quiet by nature and always had been since getting sober. She shuddered as she started wondering how many other things smart little Meg had picked up on over the years.

“You noticed that huh?” Sydney couldn’t help but smile.

“I’m not an idiot” Meg replied with just enough heat to sound indignant but not argumentative.

“I’m sorry Meg” Ali reached over and patted the girl’s arm. “That must have really bothered you” she paused, giving the redhead a chance to say something else. When she remained quiet, Ali continued after taking a deep breath. “Ok, I don’t know how else to say it. So I’m just gonna say it. I don’t think your mom appreciated Ash enough or treated her well enough. That’s about all there was to it.” There was an expectant pause that nobody filled. “But you know that your mom and I are fine now and we have been for a while.”

“That’s what she says too” Meg finally commented after taking a deep breath. Her face looked sad and serious as she tried to process the information. She met Ali’s steady gaze and found that telltale look of honesty. “I believe you.”

“Good” the brunette nodded. The young woman’s pensive expression told Ali she was not off the hook. 

“And you think she thought you were trying to steal her girlfriend?”

“That’s what she told me.”

“Wait, you guys talked about it?” Meg’s eyes were wide again. 

“Not until a long time after Ash and I finally got together. It was that Thanksgiving you guys came up.”

“When you smacked your heads?” Meg’s face broke into a small smile, despite the serious subject matter, as she tried to remember the details. “Mom said you guys had a nice chat but she never told me what it was about.” Another puzzle piece landed into place. “Now I know.”

Sydney couldn’t help herself and let a quiet giggle escape. After another several seconds, all three of them were giggling at the memory of the two nemeses cracking skulls together in Victoria’s Secret and having to take a nurse-prescribed time-out while the rest of the holiday shopping group finished their rounds in the mall. It had been one of the most enlightening conversations Ali had ever had. She learned things from Hannah that had helped her gain more perspective on the whole messy situation from 2015.

“It was a complicated time back then, for a lot of reasons” Ali tried to explain. “And I honestly had no interest in my new girlfriend keeping in touch with her ex. None at all” the brunette made a face to emphasize her point and both Meg and Sydney chuckled. “But Ashlyn was not going to move on without you. That was non-negotiable...”

“For the record, Als never asked her to either” the coach interjected. 

Ali felt her heart pang when she saw the love on the redhead’s face when she heard that news. They were all quiet again, watching the flames and welcoming Ziggy into a new space on the floor between Meg and the fire. Ali felt like she was holding back too much, but she knew there was no good outcome possible if she told Meg any details about how horrible Hannah had been back then. She had told the truth. Just a simplified version of it.

“Mom must have liked you though” Meg reasoned. “She always let me come up here and stay with you guys.”

“Your mom and I may have had our differences back then, but I always gave her credit for being a great mom. Always.”

“I can vouch for that” Sydney nodded.

“I’m sorry we’re not closer, your mom and me. I wish we were sometimes, for your sake.”

“Oh please” Sydney rolled her eyes at her best friend. “Meg was fine then and she’s more than fine now. Just look at her” she gestured towards the mature young woman. “You had no idea there were any issues between your mom and Ali when you were growing up, did you?”

“No” Meg shook her head. “It wasn’t until I was older and I could tell mom didn’t like to stay at the house when she visited. And you got weird when she did too” she finished with a nod at the brunette.

Ali opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She tried again and felt embarrassed for some reason.

“The thing you need to know about this one” Sydney pointed at the brunette with a knowing look, “is that she is the jealous type.”

“Syd!” Ali hissed and blushed as she closed her eyes, mortified.

“What?” the coach seemed surprised that she had hit a nerve. “It’s the truth. And especially when it comes to her wife” she added, looking right at Meg.

“Wow” Meg looked amused. “I never would have guessed that. Damn. You really do learn something new every day.”

“I saw her cut a waitress in half with just her death stare one time after she made the mistake of flirting with Ash before we ordered dinner” Sydney offered gleefully.

“Get outta here!” Meg laughed and Sydney joined her.

“Yes, please. Go away” Ali deadpanned and shook her head at the coach.

“Oh, Syd’s in trouble again” Ashlyn laughed as she stepped through the sliding door and out onto the patio to join them. “Better you than me, what’d you do now?”

“Nothing!” Sydney replied defensively, smile on her face. “All I did was tell Meg about your wife’s jealous streak...”

“Oh definitely” Ashlyn’s grin grew bigger and her dimple appeared. She stood behind Ali and rested her hands on the brunette’s shoulders as Frankie got up to greet her. “She hides it pretty well, but she gets jealous as hell” she chuckled and bent down to kiss the top of Ali’s head. “It’s super hot” Ashlyn wagged her eyebrows and stood back up.

“Ashlyn!” Ali blushed even deeper. “Oh God...” she closed her eyes again and shook her head.

“I did not need to know that” Meg made an eek face and cleared her throat.

“Oh come on” Ashlyn laughed again. “Still can’t handle the fact that your moms have sex huh?”

The redhead closed her eyes and shook her head slowly while Ali reached up and swatted Ashlyn’s arm, Sydney cackling the whole time.

“What is wrong with you?” the brunette leaned forward and turned to glare at her laughing wife. Ali’s blush was deep but she couldn’t keep the begrudging smile off of her face. “God...” she dropped her chin to her chest, sighed, and then giggled.

Sydney let out another loud laugh and slapped her knee. She was enjoying the uncomfortable but hysterical exchange very much.

“So why are we talking about this anyway?” Ashlyn tried to bail her wife out of the mess she had made worse for her. “I know you didn’t bring it up” the keeper chuckled and squeezed the brunette’s shoulders as Ali sat back in the patio chair again.

“I asked about why she and my mom didn’t get along” Meg answered honestly and matter-of-factly.

“Oh” Ashlyn’s face registered shock. “Well, I’ll leave you to it then” she added before turning to leave the patio like a coward.

“Wow. This is that hard for you guys to talk about huh?” Meg’s voice had a slight edge to it. She had been patient during Ali’s earlier less than satisfying answer to the question and through the jealousy sidetrack conversation. She was ready for the rest of the story now. “I don’t get it. Why won’t you just tell me?”

“I’m sorry” Sydney leaned forward and apologized sincerely, looking right into Meg’s eyes as she spoke. “That’s my fault hon. I tease and joke with her when I know there’s something she’s uncomfortable talking about” she nodded in Ali’s direction. “It’s just what I do. I don’t even think about it anymore, about how it looks or sounds to anybody else. I didn’t mean to make it seem like we thought it wasn’t important.”

“She’s right” Ali added with a squeeze of Meg’s arm again. “We didn’t mean any disrespect. I’m sorry too.”

“Listen” Ashlyn pulled an empty chair over and sat between but behind Ali and Meg. Her face was serious and her voice was soft and steady as she looked at the agitated redhead. “We’ve talked about this some before and I don’t know what Ali’s told you, but there’s not some big event that happened. There’s no mystery to it.” She leaned forward with her elbows on her knees as she continued speaking. “I met Ali when your mom and I were still dating and we became really good friends. Your mom and I weren’t doing well and I know we’ve talked about how the long-distance thing was the problem. And it was part of the problem. But our relationship wasn’t working out and it wouldn’t have worked if we had been living in the same city either.”

“Because you loved Ali?”

“Umm, no...” Ashlyn frowned, trying to find the right words to explain that time in her past. “I mean, yeah, I fell in love with Ali but that wasn’t why...man, this is hard to explain” the blonde looked down as her mind raced to find something that she could say to make sense of it all for Meg. “Your mom and I just weren’t right for each other and we both held onto our relationship for a long time for different reasons. And as it finally ended it got a little messy. Your mom, I think, blamed Ali for a lot of things that she really had nothing to do with. And your mom did some things that she’ll tell you herself she’s not proud of. She says she wasn’t herself towards the end there and I think that’s a good way to explain it. I know I wasn’t a very good partner at that point either. Your mom and I both made mistakes.”

Nobody said anything for almost a full minute. Even the dogs were quiet. The only sound came from the hissing and crackling of the small fire.

“Did you cheat on her? With Ali?”

“Meg...” Ali’s voice was a quietly chastising whisper – the way it would have been if any of her children had asked something so rude and inappropriate, but Ashlyn answered the very personal question anyway.

“No. Never” the blonde shook her head and held Meg’s gaze to try and convey how truthful she was being.

“These two idiots were in love with each other but Ashlyn wouldn’t leave your mom and Ali wouldn’t break up with her girlfriend either” Sydney added in a surprisingly serious voice.

“Ashlyn wouldn’t leave YOU” Ali corrected thoughtfully, nodding at the redhead and giving her a slightly pained smile. Meg looked sad and confused and it hurt the brunette’s heart.

“Anyway, that was a long time ago. Your mom and Ali didn’t like each other very much back then. That’s true” Ashlyn sat up. “But we all loved you and knew that we’d do whatever it took to make sure you always had us in your life too. And the more time that passed the easier it got to forget that messy stuff.”

There was another pause and the older women could see Meg trying to file the new information away in the right places – trying to put more puzzle pieces into place. Ziggy whimpered in his sleep at the redhead’s feet and it seemed to comfort her. Meg’s shoulders relaxed and she blew out a big breath, releasing what seemed like years of fears and doubts about a situation that had always perplexed her. She was still very young, but she was old enough to understand regret and the way the passage of time made things easier in many ways. There was no question that Ali and Hannah had found some common ground after all those years. Nobody expected the two of them to go off shopping together anytime soon, but they could often be found sitting and talking together quite amiably at a holiday gathering or a soccer game or some other social or family event. That, for now and maybe forever, was good enough for Meg.

“Thanks for talking with me about it” she commented shyly, looking quickly from face to face to face. There were no jokes or giggles now. All she saw in those three older faces was love and acceptance and sincerity. “I love you guys.”

//

The other redhead in the family had an amazing Fall as well. Josie had settled into 7th grade better than either of her moms thought she would. They had hoped she would be more comfortable in her second year of middle school and she certainly seemed to be. She had a whole year under her belt and Franny Higgins had stopped torturing her for the most part. There were the occasional verbal barbs but nothing physical. Even the taunts were watered-down compared to the venom that used to come out of Franny’s mouth. Nobody quite understood why the troubled girl had let up, but they hoped it was a permanent trend. Josie’s music had become even more important to her. She practiced more and more, both the piano and the flute, and her skill level kept increasing accordingly. Both Ali and Ashlyn were amazed at how good she was and at how much joy she got out of it, especially playing the piano. Josie had a big part in the Fall play that year and her tight-knit group of drama and music friends continued to be a source of support and camaraderie for the redhead.

The big addition to Josie’s world was Cole, the lucky 7th grade boy whom she had decided to make her boyfriend for the duration of the school year - or for as long as she could tolerate it, whichever came first. Josie was 12 years old and she and her friends were curious as hell about boys and relationships and sex and everything having to do with all of that. Their bodies were changing and the race to see who would get their period next was a hot topic of conversation. Josie had always been a bit dramatic but it had always been tempered by her pragmatism. She liked to cross things off her list. She liked to get her homework done right away so she wouldn’t have to worry about it later. You could tell if her school day had been difficult by the music she played and the way she played it on the piano when she got home in the afternoon. Mondays were still her favorite day of the week because her private piano teacher, Mr. Kershaw, came to the big old house in the late afternoon. She was one of the smartest girls in her class and she also was a very good athlete. Soccer was her best and favorite sport to play. The Fall was her favorite time of year and she practically glowed with excitement and glorious possibility at the beginning of each school year.

“Mom?”

Ali had just settled into her soothing bath for a good soak Monday night, October 24th, when she heard her daughter’s voice calling out from the master bedroom. It had been a long day – the family just returning Sunday evening from the Breakers’ Championship game out in Los Angeles on Saturday. It was 8:40pm and the two moms had gotten all three youngest kids into bed 10 minutes earlier. They were allowed to stay up and read in bed until 9pm and the brunette was surprised to hear Josie’s voice coming through the closed master bathroom door.

“What’s up Jose?”

“Did you sign my permission slip for the museum trip?”

“What honey?” the redhead’s voice was muffled and hard to hear.

“Did you sign my permission slip for the museum trip?”

“Yes, I put it in the outside pocket of your backpack, remember?” 

“Oh yeah. Ok” she paused for a few seconds, head leaning against the door. “Did you remember to sign up for the ad in the program?”

“Yes. Mama took care of that. We did the full-page Knight-Harris ad again, just like last time.” They had already discussed both subjects earlier and the brunette could tell there was something on the girl’s mind. Josie was stalling until she could work up the courage to get whatever it was out. Ali took a chance. “Will you do me a favor honey?”

“What is it?” the girl was careful not to commit too early. As much as she wanted to talk to her mother she was not interested in doing anything too taxing.

“Will you come in and grab me a washcloth, please? I forgot to get one and I’m already in the tub.”

Josie hesitated again, not because of the easy task, but because they had all been taught to try their best to leave Mommy alone when she was having a bath, unless it was a true emergency. Ashlyn was the one who had been preaching that for their entire lives. Just as Ali had been trying to train the kids to leave Ashlyn alone when she retreated to her studio on the third floor and closed the door. That night at the end of October, Ali was enjoying her pre-ultrasound appointment bath. It had become something of a ritual for her. She wasn’t superstitious but the soak calmed her nerves and helped her steady herself as she prepared to hunt for the ovarian cancer again. None of the other kids knew about that though, just Meg.

“It’s ok, you’re helping me” the brunette sensed the hesitation.

Josie opened the door and closed it behind her trying to keep the warm air inside the peaceful bathroom. She loved her mom’s baths. She always had, ever since she had been a little girl. All the kids did, really. But Josie especially had always emulated Ali and tried to be just like her. That meant loving baths too. The good news was that the girl truly did enjoy Ali’s soaking baths. She loved the way they smelled and the soft, silkiness of the water and even the way the air itself felt different on her skin when she was in the humid, fragrant room with her mom. She used to ask to join Ali in the bath and the brunette almost always said yes, regardless of what crap had gone on in her day that had caused her to want a bath in the first place. They would sit there across from each other in the soaking tub, surrounded by bubbles, and talk. Depending on how old Josie was, the conversation could range from stuffed animals to piano lessons to homework to bullying to soccer to training bras to how annoying her brothers were and on and on and on. 

Ali submerged the washcloth she already had in the tub with her so it was out of sight beneath the bubbles and smiled at the redhead who clearly had something she wanted to talk about or ask about.

“Thanks honey, just hand me one...” Ali pointed towards the vanity drawer beneath the sinks.

Josie grabbed a washcloth and walked it over to her mother in the tub. She eyed the bubbles as she stood next to the enticing bath. Ali watched her carefully but tried not to stare or spook her. The redhead sat on the edge of the deep soaking tub and looked from her mom’s calm face to the other side of the bathroom where the toilet was, to the faucet that was slowly dripping in the middle of the tub along the wall. Ali, meanwhile, was doing everything in her power not to chuckle. She knew that Josie probably thought she was playing it cool and not letting on to her mom that she wanted to ask her something. The brunette tried to remember the last time Josie had climbed into her bath with her. It made her sad to realize it had been so long ago that she couldn’t even call it to mind.

“Are those new bubbles?” Josie asked, genuinely intrigued by the slightly different scent in the fragrant room. Without going into all the mechanics of one of Mom’s baths, Josie just called everything ‘the bubbles’.

“Kind of” she explained patiently, knowing the redhead was actually interested in the answer. “I used a new mixture – a little bit less lavender, more oatmeal, a different kind of eucalyptus, and I added some peach. I haven’t tried it before, what do you think?”

Josie leaned over and ran her hand through the water for several seconds before replying.

“I like it” she nodded, bringing her fingers to her nose to make extra sure. “Yeah, it’s good.”

“You’re supposed to be in bed” Ali lowered her voice conspiratorially, “but if you want to get in, I won’t tell anybody.”

Josie’s eyes sparkled at the idea but then she frowned. Ali held her breath, afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing. She found herself really wanting the redhead to join her. It would probably be the last time it would ever happen and the brunette knew it. Maybe Josie did too.

“Mmkay” the girl nodded, stood up, quickly pulled her nightgown over her head and her panties down, and then climbed into the tub. She took her position at the other end, avoiding her mother’s watchful eyes until she was situated. “Thanks.”

The good news as far as Ali was concerned was that Josie wasn’t so big that she was embarrassed about being naked in front of her mother yet. The time for that was close at hand, but the innocence of a shared bath with Mom was still the ruling emotion of the day. Thank goodness. The brunette tried to imagine being in Josie’s shoes and sharing a bath with her own mother back when she had been 12 years old. Not in a million years. Deb had been a great mom and she had taught Ali everything she knew about how to take care of her growing and changing body. But, much like the approach to sex education had been different back then, there was no way Deb would have invited young Ali to join her in the bath. Having a 2-person soaking tub certainly made it easier and less-invasive, and the brunette wondered how much that logistical issue would have changed the outcome of her trip down memory lane. It wasn’t a judgment of Deb’s parenting skills, but Ali was proud of the way she and Ashlyn had been raising their kids to be positive and confident about their bodies. To her surprise, the brunette realized that Josie was already chattering away about that afternoon’s private piano lesson. She admonished herself for not paying attention and focused solely on the redhead who seemed to be teetering back and forth between shy reluctance and confident comfort in their current, intimate situation.

“It sounds like a good idea to prepare two songs, just in case” Ali nodded after listening for a minute and getting caught up. “Better safe than sorry.”

“Yeah, I think so too. Now I just have to pick the second song, but Mr. Kershaw says he has a good idea for one.” Josie nodded distractedly and began to chew on her bottom lip as she slowly moved her hands through the thick bubbles in front of her.

Ali let the quiet fill the room and tried to be patient for as long as possible. She had to play this just right or risk ruining the moment entirely. 

“Remember when you told us about your first kiss? We were all up in Meg’s room that time?” the redhead finally managed to choke out, eyes still focused intently on the bubbles.

“I do” Ali replied carefully, opting to let the girl steer their conversation. 

But Josie didn’t say anything else for an agonizing two minutes. She never took her eyes off of the bubbles as she kept moving her fingers slowly through the surface of the bathwater. It was torture for the mom, who finally caved and spoke again, voice soft and steady.

“What about it?” Another minute of silence. “Jose?” Another long pause with a furtive glance up at Ali from the redhead. “Just talk to me Little One...”

“Don’t call me that” Josie said softly, without any of the usual umbrage that went along with the nickname that the brunette couldn’t seem to stop using, no matter how hard she tried.

“Sorry, sorry” Ali sighed and shook her head, disappointed in her blunder. “I know you don’t like that name anymore. It’s just a hard habit to break, that’s all. I’m sorry.” She took a deep breath and tried again. “I wish you’d just say whatever it is you’re nervous about, or ask whatever question you’ve got. I’ll do my best to help” she smiled softly at her daughter who had finally lifted her eyes up. “C’mon, gimme a chance” Ali pressed gently, her smile growing just a bit as she held her daughter’s pensive gaze.

Slowly but surely, the corners of Josie’s lips began to turn up as she melted under her mother’s loving attention. It was hard to look into Ali’s smiling face like that and not return the smile.

“Was the second one...better?”

“Second what?” Ali scrunched her face in confusion before it hit her. “Oh! The second kiss...umm...” she pursed her lips as she thought about it. “I don’t think so, not really.”

“It wasn’t better?” Josie seemed surprised by the answer. “Really?”

“No” Ali chuckled. “’Fraid not.” She was moved by the disappointed look on her daughter’s face. “It does get better when you’re older though. A lot better.”

“How much older?”

“Hmmm...I think I remember some good kisses in high school” the brunette thought hard about it, wanting to show Josie that she was taking her questions seriously. “Definitely better in college...”

“Not until high school?!” Josie’s eyes went wide. “Are you kidding me?”

“No” Ali couldn’t help but chuckle again. “I wouldn’t kid you about this Jose. I know it’s important to you.” After another long pause she pushed for a little information. “So it sounds like you had your first kiss huh?” she cocked her head and tried very hard not to grin like an idiot as the girl across from her began to fidget just a bit.

“Umm...yeah.”

“Was it with Cole?”

“Mmm Hmmm” she nodded but kept her eyes down again. A blush crept up her cheeks.

“It wasn’t that exciting, was it?”

“No” Josie shook her head as she met her mother’s understanding eyes. “I didn’t even know he was gonna do it” she spoke quickly now. “He just, like, kissed me and I was talking and...it was kinda gross...”

“Oh, while you were talking? I’m sorry honey” she frowned sympathetically. “Was your mouth open too?” Ali bit the inside of her cheek to keep from giggling at the adorably horrified look on Josie’s pink little face. “That must have been gross.”

“It was! I don’t even think I want to kiss him again after that” she huffed.

“Oh, well, remember, the only way you get better at it is by practicing...”

“Well he has to practice too!”

“Definitely” Ali nodded supportively. “I’m just saying, maybe don’t give up on it yet. Or him” she shrugged. “He was probably nervous and not sure what to do. You should tell him that you want to kiss him again but not while you’re talking. Maybe when you’re both ready to kiss.”

She watched the redhead considering her advice and found a new place inside her cheek to bite down. Laughing now would be devastating for the so-far successful conversation. But Josie was so damned cute! Her round little face still looked so young, despite her 12 years of childhood. Her beautiful blue eyes, so deep and clear, were the only part of the girl that looked old enough to be talking about sharing a first kiss. 

“Where were you guys when he kissed you? At school?” Ali was dying to know the details but had tried to play it cool so far.

“Yeah, after rehearsal on Friday.”

“Before pizza?” the brunette clarified, remembering that Ashlyn had been one of the parent chaperones for the pizza party that was held at the end of the first week of rehearsals for every new play they did. “While you were still at school?”

Josie hesitated and seemed to pull back from the extra questions. Ali knew she was losing her.

“It was your first kiss” she blinked softly at the girl, head tilted slightly as she tried to win her back. “I wanna hear all about it. And you should write it down so you don’t forget any of the details. Someday when you’re older you’ll be glad you did. Trust me.”

After another minute contemplating her mother’s request and advice, Josie shared the story without much emotional investment. It was easy to see that it hadn’t been a good experience and it explained why she was wondering about the second kiss.

“We were talking by the drama back door, a bunch of us, and then Cole wanted to go for a walk while we waited for the chaperones to take us to the pizza party. We were talking about how bad Marisa sounded and then he just, like, jumped in front of me and kissed me” she shrugged and shook her head. “It was so weird.”

“Aw, thanks for telling me that” Ali couldn’t keep the broad grin off of her face. “And I promise you it gets better baby girl. Don’t worry too much about it. And try and cut Cole some slack. Talk to him about maybe trying it again.”

“Yeah, we’re gonna kiss again tomorrow” she stated matter-of-factly.

“Oh, I see” Ali smirked and nodded. “You’ve already talked about it then. Good.”

“Baby, can I come in?” Ashlyn’s soft voice called after a quick knock on the closed door.

“Yeah babe, come in.”

“What is going on in here?” the keeper asked with wide eyes as Josie giggled and lowered herself further into the water.

“Don’t get your hair wet” Ali reminded her and gave her leg a poke with her toe under the water.

“Whoops, almost forgot” Josie giggled again, catching herself in the nick of time. 

“And why aren’t you in bed little miss?” Ashlyn folded her arms across her chest and raised her eyebrows.

“Ummm...” Josie looked quickly at Ali for some help. Not only was she not in bed but she had interrupted her mom’s sacred bath. A double foul that was sure to anger the keeper more than usual.

“It’s ok, I asked her to come in” Ali explained. “I needed a washcloth” she winked at Josie.

“Well it’s after 9:00pm...” the blonde challenged.

“It’s ok, I’m done” Josie replied as she sat up straight and pushed bubbles off of her arms.

“Are you sure Jose?” Ali met her eyes, telling her everything was ok with just a look.

Ashlyn looked from her daughter to her wife with confusion creasing her brow. What was going on?

“I’m sure. Thanks mom” she stood up, her pale skin glistening with bubbles.

“Here, rinse off” Ashlyn opened the shower door and adjusted the shower head lower. “Then get your butt back into bed.”

As soon as the shower door closed behind the redhead, Ashlyn turned towards the tub and frowned at her wife.

“Is everything ok? I know you didn’t call her in here to get you a washcloth...”

“She was telling me about her first kiss!” Ali whisper yelled, her eyes dancing with both excitement and aggravation.

“What?!”

“Shhhh...” Ali shushed her shocked wife.

The shower shut off and when Josie stepped out of it and wrapped herself up in a towel it was obvious that the moment had passed. The magic spell of the bubbles and the fragrant water had worn off and their lovable but reluctant 12-year old was back to herself again. She scooped up her clothes and kissed Ali on the cheek, then hugged Ashlyn, and walked back to her own bed for the night.

Ashlyn, still stunned by the news, slowly sat on the edge of the tub with her mouth open and her mind racing. Her head was so full of different things that she couldn’t focus on a single one in that moment. Ali scooted forward and hugged her from behind, wrapping her right arm around the keeper’s waist and leaning her right cheek into her back. They were both quiet for a couple of minutes, just breathing and thinking. Training bras, crushes on boy bands, early signs of puberty, questions about bodies and sex, a very first kiss, it was all happening and there was no going back. There was no denying what was on the horizon. Soon Josie would be getting her period and before too long she’d be enjoying the kisses she shared with her boyfriends. Ali was more prepared for it than her sensitive keeper was. Ashlyn had been in a willful denial about those things all year long and she had been hoping to ride that wave indefinitely. The brunette’s more pragmatic approach had resulted in frequent bouts of melancholy as she came to grips with the fact that her Little One was growing up fast. Her goal now was to help Josie make the transition to young womanhood as painlessly as possible. It was truly bittersweet.

“You ok?” Ali turned her head and pressed a kiss into her keeper’s lower back.

“No. Not ok” Ashlyn shook her head slowly, her voice choked and hoarse as she tried to hold back tears. 

“Aww, honey, it’s ok” the brunette cooed and gave her waist a squeeze. 

“I’m not ready. I know it’s time, she’s 12 for God’s sake” Ashlyn sniffled and wiped her eyes with her fingers as she sighed heavily.

“I’m not ready either. But this is how it works, right?”

“I know.”

“She’s not going anywhere anytime soon babe. We’ve got her here for another 5 years, maybe 6...”

“I know” Ashlyn took a deep breath. “I know you’re right. It’s just so hard. I mean, I know we’ve been watching them grow up all these years and this is all going according to plan...but it’s so fucking hard.”

Ali let out a big sigh, blowing out a long breath as she returned her cheek to her wife’s lower back. Her voice was soft and sad.

“It sure as hell is.”


	36. NYC Girls Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut warning

Ashlyn wanted to do something nice for Whitney, to help her get a break from taking care of Tommy. Ali wanted to do something similar for Sydney, to help her continue to put Cassius’ frightful encounter at Fenway Park behind her. It was time for a girls’ weekend or at least a night away. The plan had been thrown together without a lot of advance notice so it was a miracle that it even worked. Ashlyn had some sponsorship appearances in New York City on the Sunday of Columbus Day weekend in early October. October was, of course, an insanely busy month because of the NWSL playoffs and Championship Week which was going to be held in Los Angeles that year. By the skin of their teeth, the four best friends managed to sneak a short girls’ trip to NYC, piggybacking on Ashlyn’s travel plans.

The Boston Breakers finished the season with the best record in the Eastern Conference. The Los Angeles Strikers topped the Western Conference and won the Shield for having the best overall record in the entire league. After beating both Toronto, and Atlanta, who had won the championship last year, Boston had booked its ticket to the Final in Los Angeles. The Strikers, hoping to win the championship game on its home field in front of their diehard supporters, got a little too cocky in the two playoff games before the Final. The upstart Utah Royals were crushing everybody’s hopes and dreams that postseason. The Royals were the league’s newest team but they’d been around since 2027. Everybody was trying to make sure the league didn’t grow too quickly, which had been a big reason for the demise of other iterations of professional women’s sports leagues in the past. There was a moratorium on expanding the NWSL until 2035. Then the 20-team league would decide whether or not to add more teams.

The Royals surprised both Houston and LA and won the Western Conference playoff tournament, earning the right to face the Breakers in the Championship game on October 22nd.

The first playoff games were held two weeks before that however, on Saturday October 8th. The four friends watched the Breakers win that game in Boston Saturday night and then took a quick flight to NYC on Sunday morning. Monday was Columbus Day so the plan was to enjoy Sunday and most of Monday before flying back home Monday night. They called on their villages to help them out with their kids and husbands and dogs and then made their escape to the big apple for some much-needed R&R.

“It’s too bad Nik & Mol couldn’t come” Whitney commented as their small group was seated for lunch at a trendy restaurant very near where Ashlyn had to spend her afternoon. “I feel bad doing this without them.”

“Listen” Ashlyn cocked her head at her bestie. “Nik warned you not to do that.”

“I know” Whitney sighed.

“Niki’s got BC up at Syracuse getting ready for their game tonight” Ali reminded everybody, trying to push her own guilt off as well.

“And Molly’s babysitting for her sister” Sydney added with a stern look. “And I need this trip with my bitches so don’t fuck it up for me with all this guilt bullshit.”

“Well alright then” Whitney nodded once and opened her menu. “I’m ordering a drink then. It’s 12pm somewhere.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Sydney laughed and winked at the lawyer. “My girl, I love it when you cut loose. Let’s do this.”

It was true. Everybody loved it when Whitney decided to throw caution to the wind. It happened very infrequently, and only when she was surrounded by the three women who made her feel the most carefree and the safest. It would have been better if Niki and Molly were there too, but as long as she had Ashlyn to love her, Ali to keep them all out of too much trouble, and Sydney to keep things lively and hysterical, she knew she was going to have a great couple of days in the big city. Ordering a drink at 11:00am was a helluva start and they all joined the stressed-out mom.

Ashlyn left right after lunch to go to a meet and greet for American Express in the next building over from the restaurant. After that she had a couple of interviews to tape before finishing her sponsorship day with a cocktail reception and dinner for Suburu. She would be free from obligation by about 8pm that night and the four friends had plans to go dancing as soon as the keeper made her way back to them. In the meantime, Ali, Sydney, and Whitney had the whole afternoon to shop and goof off. Their biggest decision was going to be where to eat dinner but Kyle Krieger had come through for them with some great restaurant ideas. He would be joining them all for brunch the next day and they were all looking forward to seeing him. Kyle was always a fun time, especially on his home turf in NYC.

At the end of the afternoon the ladies had a rollicking conversation back in their hotel lounge. They had gone back to regroup and change clothes for dinner but stopped for a drink at the bar and lounge first. It was 4pm and they were all deliciously tipsy by 4:30pm. The lounge was big and mostly empty at that hour so the friends had all the privacy they could want, tucked into a round booth table in the back corner. They ordered drinks and then some snacks and then more drinks. Sydney decided that it was time for shots and they did those too. Even Whitney went along easily with all of it as they laughed and joked and talked and giggled together like the old friends that they had become. 

Sydney talked about how distraught she still was over Cassius’ altercation at Fenway Park back in April. Whitney admitted how hard it was to take care of Tommy and keep a positive outlook every day. Ali listened to them both and encouraged them both and reassured them both. They talked about hard things and scary things and sad things. And then, almost as if someone had turned a page in a storybook, they decided, without even discussing it, to move on to lighter things. It was 6pm and they were a little drunk so they ordered dinner right there in the hotel lounge that had gotten busier but was still not very crowded that Sunday evening.

“Ok, ok, ok” Sydney got their attention with slightly slurred words and an enormous smile. She looked like the Cheshire cat as she grinned and giggled. “Now it’s time to get serious...” she looked furtively around them to make sure their privacy was still mostly in tact. She leaned closer to Ali, who was sitting between the two straight women, and motioned for Whitney to lean in as well. “Have you ever tied Ryan up in bed?”

“Syd!” Ali yelled and pushed her bestie away. 

It was hard for the coach to know what the brunette was reacting to, the fact that she had brought up the subject at all, or the fact that she was asking notoriously shy Whitney about it.

“Oh my God Al, you’re so red!” Whitney giggled and leaned into the brunette even further. 

“What?” Sydney recovered from the push and leaned in again with a confused chuckle. “I didn’t ask if you tied Ash up. What’s your problem?”

“Well I think we all know the answer to that one anyway” Whitney laughed. “Poker face Krieger here” she teased and made Sydney howl with laughter.

Ali opened her mouth twice to say something but nothing came out. She closed it and folded her arms across her chest in a bratty, embarrassed pout while both women continued to giggle at her overreaction.

“I never said a word” the coach tried to make a serious face with only middling results. 

“Yes you did” Ali hissed and glared at her best friend. “Why would you even bring that up?”

“Cuz I wanted to know if Whit ever tied Ryan up?” Sydney shrugged. “It really has nothing to do with you, does it?” she couldn’t help but chuckle at the offended look on Ali’s face.

“You always go too far Syd...”

“Oh come on now” Whitney tugged Ali’s arm and her attention back over to her side. “Leave her alone. She’s right. She asked me the question. Not you.”

Ali was surprised to realize they were right as she sat there for a minute and replayed the conversation in her head. She rolled her eyes, blushed again, and finished her rum and coke. She usually had a vodka tonic if she wasn’t drinking wine or champagne, but when she was out with Sydney they often fell back on their first drink orders from when they had been young, new drinkers.

“Besides” Whitney continued with a mischievous gleam in her eye, “we all know you loooove tying Ash up so I don’t know who you’re trying to fool” she giggled and then laughed harder when Ali choked on her drink.

“Easy now boo, take it easy” Sydney patted the brunette on the back, hoping to help her catch her breath and clear her lungs. “And before you even ask, no I didn’t tell anybody anything. Only Dom.”

“She never said a word to me” Whitney corroborated the story and signaled to the waiter for another round of drinks.

There was no reason for Ali to be surprised. Of course Ashlyn had told her best friend about the exciting new kink in their sex life. Ali would have told Sydney too if the coach hadn’t already known and helped her by taking the online course with her. The brunette sighed heavily and looked at two of the women she trusted most in the world. What was the big deal? Did she really think either one of them was going to broadcast the news?

“So what’s the word Whit?” Sydney nodded at the lawyer, both women giving Ali a minute to regain her composure. “Yes or no on the tying up?”

“Ummm...” it was Whitney’s turn to blush, even though she had enough alcohol in her to make her bolder and braver than usual. “No, not really. I mean...we have some silly handcuffs...”

“Oooh, handcuffs. Yaaasss, now we’re talking” the coach nodded approvingly through a throaty chuckle.

“No, they’re just...I mean, they’re covered in pink fur for Christ’s sake” the lawyer admitted and then laughed out loud. “Oh my God I can’t believe I just told you that.”

“Handcuffs are fun! That’s awesome” the coach encouraged. “And I can tell you from personal experience, the tying up is fun too.”

Sydney launched into a pretty detailed description of some of the things she and Ali had learned about Kinbaku and Shibari earlier that year and, before long, the brunette had joined in the conversation. Whitney listened with rapt attention, eager to hear this side of things after already hearing from Ashlyn from the receiver’s perspective. More drinks came and empty glasses went and the conversation turned to other types of toys being used in the bedroom. Whitney was the most relaxed and open either Ali or Sydney could remember. It was obvious she was releasing a lot of pent up stress and worry and who knows what else. 

“I don’t know who he talked to, or what he read” the lawyer giggled and raised her eyebrows up high after finishing another drink, “but all of a sudden he’s doing different things.”

“Good different things or bad?” Ali asked with a confused frown.

“Good, all good!” Whitney laughed.

“Different things with his mouth or his dick?” Sydney cut right to the chase, as usual.

“Or his hands” Ali added as if it was a game. “Don’t forget the hands – said every lesbian everywhere” she laughed out loud at her own joke and slapped her thigh.

“Yeah, yeah, settle down” Sydney gave her a playful shove and made a pained face at her. “Straight girls talking about dick here now. Just wait your damned turn.”

They all laughed at that and took a minute to get themselves under control again.

“Well??” Sydney picked right up where they left off.

“His mouth” Whitney squeaked out in a high-pitch giggle and covered her red face with both hands. “I don’t know, he’s like...doing it better now” she shrugged. “I don’t know” she shook her head. “Somebody else talk now.”

“I’ll bet he read something about sucking instead of just licking” the coach nodded knowingly. “I remember when Dom finally figured that out” she grinned. “Whooo girl...I’m jealous of you getting to go through that now.”

“Wasn’t there that movie, what was the name?” Ali smacked Sydney in the arm expectantly.

“What movie?” the coach laughed and pushed Ali’s shoulder back. “Ima need a little more info than that boo boo.”

“You remember” Ali gave her an exasperated look but they both laughed at each other through their buzzes. “The one where the husbands go to a class to learn how to please their wives? It was a comedy, remember?”

“Oh my God” Whitney raised her eyebrows and dropped her jaw. “That’s it! I wanted to watch that on demand last weekend and he said he’d already seen it. Wow.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet” Ali gushed. “He probably watched it and wanted to learn something too.”

“Yeah right” Sydney chuckled and scoffed. “One of his buddies had to watch it with his wife and told him about it. I guarantee you.”

“Either way, I think it’s sweet that he watched it and tried new things for you” the brunette smiled at Whitney. “Maybe you can learn about Kinbaku and try that on him” she suggested with a lascivious smirk.

“We’re not that into toys or other stuff though” the lawyer replied. “Honestly?” she paused and looked around them conspiratorially, “I just want him. Nothing’s better than him, not even his fingers.”

“And by him you mean his cock” Sydney clarified with a knowing smile. “I hear you. Nothing better than a nice, big dick...sorry Als, but you’re not gonna win this one.”

“Whatever” Ali shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I’ve told you a million times how I feel about strap-ons and why...”

“Yeah, I know, but do you really mean you’d rather have some plastic dildo inside you than a real, live dick?” Sydney’s eyes were wide and her words were slurred but, miraculously, they were all managing to keep their voices down so far.

“If the dick has to be attached to someone who isn’t Ash, then yeah. Dildo. All day long” the brunette replied definitively.

“I couldn’t do it” Whitney offered with a dreamy look in her eye. “No way could I give it up. I love it.”

“Do you love it, or do you love Ryan so you love his penis?” Ali posed an interesting question that stumped both straight women.

“You’re reaching now” Sydney finally giggled.

“Am I though?”

“Yeah, you are. Look, I’m just saying that a real, live dick is better than a fake one. I’m not questioning your les...lesbin...lesbianism” she stumbled over the word with her thick, inebriated tongue and then giggled again.

“What if Ash had one, would you love it then?” Whitney asked the strangest question of the weekend.

“Ha!” Sydney cackled. “Sorry, just got the most fucked up image in my mind” she shook her head quickly and took a big drink. “Whew.” 

“Just forget it” the lawyer tried to backtrack with her own giggle. “I’m drunk.”

“I mean, I don’t know” Ali spoke slowly as she considered the question. “I liked the dicks in my life” she chuckled, “Not that there were a lot of them. That was never a problem for me, well, unless they wore out too fast” she rolled her eyes again. “That sucked.”

“Oh yeah, that.”  
“Tell me about it.”  
Both Sydney and Whitney agreed quickly and eagerly and all three women shared a laugh.

“I don’t know, there’s just something so...sexy about the way it feels in my hand” Whitney offered vaguely, trying hard to find the right words to explain why she loved Ryan’s penis so much. “I love that.”

“Ooh yes, the way it twitches in your hand” the coach agreed and closed her eyes for a few seconds, enjoying the image. 

“Exactly” Whitney nodded. “It pulses and throbs and...mmmmmmm...I kinda lose my mind.”

“I hate to break it to you guys but there’s an entire area on a woman’s body that does that too” Ali interrupted the drooling over penis talk. “It’s called your vulva and it’s fucking fabulous.”

“Yeah, yeah, save it sis” Sydney laughed. “Where were we Whit? Big throbbing dick in our hand...yes please.”

They spent the next 30 minutes engaged in a startlingly ribald discussion about the male anatomy until, eventually, Ali’s alarm went off and they had to get their shit together. They had to get into a cab and meet Ashlyn at the dance club in an hour. They hurried upstairs to change and try to sober up a little bit. For the rest of the night Ali kept thinking about her intimate times with a penis, long ago in her past. Something about the way both Sydney and Whitney had described it, so vividly and reverently, had taken her back to her college days 30 years earlier. 

She couldn’t deny it, she had always loved the way her boyfriend’s dick had felt pressed up against her leg as they danced or in her hand as she teased while they were watching a movie or driving. It was the only thing she missed about the strap-ons she had come to love more than she ever thought possible. Penises came alive and let you know they were getting excited. They had a heartbeat and pulsed and throbbed and twitched. Dildos did not. Strap-ons and sex toys had a ton of advantages over the real thing, to be sure, and Ali had always taken pleasure listing them off when having similar debates with her straight friends. But she had to admit that feeling that subtle poke had always gotten her turned on when she had been with guys. It was flattering and sexy and promising. She knew she was going to have fun later that evening when she felt it starting to come to life while dancing after dinner.

But she couldn’t imagine having sex with anybody other than Ashlyn. It just wasn’t something she could even picture, no matter how fantastical it might be. She didn’t want to have sex with anybody else, penis or not. Sex with anybody else had never been one tenth as good as it was with her sweet, strong, talented keeper. Ashlyn had awoken feelings and sensations and desires in the brunette that she never even knew existed. She didn’t need to feel the throb of a penis to know that Ashlyn was aroused. She didn’t need to feel it twitch in her hand once exposed and erect to know that Ashlyn was dripping wet with her own want. Ali could see all of that in her keeper’s eyes as they got darker and greener. She could hear it in her voice as it got huskier and hungrier. She could feel her wife’s excitement in the goosebumps that broke out on her skin and the stiff points that declared themselves through her bra. Ashlyn’s body told her everything a penis ever could, and then some. Sydney and Whitney could have all the dicks in the world as far as Ali was concerned. She didn’t need or want one. She had Ashlyn and nobody had ever turned her on more than she could. 

Those were the thoughts swirling through her mind over the next 4 hours as they met Ashlyn at the club and danced the rest of the night away. Ali tried not to hog her wife too much and leave the two besties out of the fun. But it was a struggle. Ali was horny as hell by the time they had danced to three songs and all she wanted to do was get her wife back to their hotel room and fuck her brains out. She chose not to be overly concerned by how turned on she had gotten during the sexy conversation in the hotel lounge earlier. She also decided not to tell Ashlyn about it, at least not her level of arousal from it. One of the keeper’s secret irrational fears was that her wife would someday realize that she missed having sex with men and want to go back to doing it. Ali was well aware of this and she tried to be patient with Ashlyn on the rare occasion when it came up in post-coital conversation. Ali had always been honest and told her wife that she didn’t miss it one bit. The brunette freely complimented her keeper on her sexual prowess and confessed willingly that sex with Ashlyn was the best she’d ever had or could imagine having. 

But one of the things you learned after being married for so long was that you didn’t always need to tell your spouse every little fear you had running through your head every day. Sometimes your mind played tricks on you and made you extra sensitive to a certain subject. Sometimes the small irrational fears got the better of you for a while and you had to refocus and try to beat them back into the quiet, dark corner of your brain where they normally hid. Sometimes, when that didn’t work, you did have to talk to your wife about whatever it was, carefully prefacing the conversation with ‘I know this is silly but...’ or ‘I know you don’t really feel this way but...’. She would reassure you and you would talk about it for a few minutes and then you could cram it back into that dark corner, maybe even further away than usual. It happened to everybody, in every relationship. 

Those moments where you doubt yourself and maybe question your spouse for a quick minute. It was human nature and it wasn’t going to go away any time soon. The trick was to know when something was important enough to talk about with your wife, and when it would do nothing but cause problems that didn’t really exist. Ali had learned back when Josie was just a newborn that she didn’t need to vocalize every little fear that flashed into her brain. All that accomplished, usually, was making Ashlyn upset and then amplifying the perceived problem that hadn’t really been there in the first place. She made a big deal out of nothing and caused her sweet keeper to get upset or worried about something that was really tiny or silly or harmless.

Ashlyn had learned the same thing but it had taken her a bit longer. There were times when you just had to trust yourself and your spouse and tell your mind to fuck off. Ali knew that she didn’t want to have sex with men again. She knew that she didn’t want to have sex with anybody other than Ashlyn for the rest of her life. No part of her brain or body felt otherwise. The fact that she had gotten turned on by Sydney and Whitney talking about how much they loved penises had nothing to do with her sex life with Ashlyn. The whole conversation had been sexy and fun and titillating, including the part about dicks. Ali had enjoyed her fleeting memories of intimate times with ex-boyfriends’ penises, but that didn’t mean she wanted one again. Ashlyn wouldn’t see it that way though. The topic would play right into her irrational fear and create a problem where there wasn’t one. So the brunette chose not to mention it. She would tell Ashlyn all about the conversation but just not admit to getting turned on by that particular part of it. She’d just hold back that one little detail so her keeper wouldn’t blow it out of proportion in her own mind. She wanted to save Ashlyn’s feelings. 

The fact of the matter was that Ali was madly in love with Ashlyn, still. She still wanted to be with her more than anybody else. She still missed having her around when they weren’t together. She still yearned to feel her comforting hand at the small or her back or on her shoulder or on her thigh whenever she saw the blonde. She still thought Ashlyn was the most interesting person to talk to. She still felt her heart flutter and her stomach flip flop when she looked at the beautiful keeper. Ali loved Ashlyn with her whole heart, mind, body, and soul and she would want to have sex with whatever the blonde had between her legs. If Ashlyn had been a man, Ali would have fallen in love just as hard. She was thankful as hell that her gorgeous wife was a woman but the point was that it wouldn’t have mattered to the brunette. And whatever body parts were there, then that’s what Ali wanted to have sex with. It really was as simple as that.

“Finally...” the flustered brunette exhaled dramatically when they got back to their hotel room at 12:45am. 

The bemused look on Ashlyn’s face belied the steadily mounting lust in her own system.

“In a hurry?” she quirked an eyebrow at her wife who had pushed her up against the hotel room door as soon as it had closed behind them.

“Shut up and kiss me” Ali commanded, breathlessly, as she pressed her body into the keeper’s and grabbed her behind the neck with one hand and at the waist with the other.

Ashlyn knew her wife was worked up. She had been trying to dance up on her all night long but the blonde made sure to maintain a civil distance so Whitney and Sydney didn’t feel like they were in the way or unwanted. It was a girls’ weekend after all. Ali had tried to get Ashlyn to join her in the bathroom but the keeper had demurred, saying she was going to get another round of drinks for the group instead. Ali knew what her wife was doing and she admired her for it. Kind, considerate Ashlyn was making sure Whitney had a great time first and foremost that night. The brunette did her best to follow her lead and dedicate more time to dancing with Sydney too. It had been a wonderfully fun and carefree night for all of them, once Ali finally got her libido under some control. They couldn’t remember the last time just the four of them had gone out dancing. They felt like they were 30 years old and single again without any obligations aside from work and paying their bills. Ashlyn pulled Whitney back from the brink of getting truly shitfaced, knowing that such an outcome would ruin their plans for the next day. There was no way she was going to let her best friend cancel out one whole day of child-free, husband-free fun because of a self-indulgent hangover. They all finished the night drunk, some moreso than others, but none of them so inebriated that they couldn’t get themselves into their rooms and into their own beds. Sydney was the most drunk, followed by Ali with Whitney close on her heels, and then Ashlyn who had gotten a much later start than the rest.

“You shut up and kiss ME” the keeper smirked with a devilish glint in her hazel eyes that were much more green than usual at the moment.

Ali raised both eyebrows and chuckled low in her throat at the sexy challenge. Damn that was hot when Ashlyn took control like that. The brunette felt her desire soar again as she leaned in and captured her wife’s lips in a slow, sensual kiss.

“Mmmmm...” Ashlyn moaned into the sexy kiss, deepening and prolonging it into one of their most passionate make-outs in a long time.

Their hands fumbled with blouses and belts and zippers as they moved their mouths together, breathing heavily through quick breaks where they removed an article of clothing at a time. The stoppage was brief because they couldn’t keep their lips apart. They would pull a piece of clothing off of themselves and then come back together to continue the bruising kiss that seemed to be everything they both wanted right in that moment. Their faces were like two magnets that snapped back together as soon as they were close enough again. Then they would take another quick break to remove more clothing before diving back into each other’s mouth again. Every time they pulled back a bit to shed another garment, they moved a foot or two towards the big bed in the middle of the room. It was a miracle that they didn’t fall over during the crossing because they were both tipsy from alcohol and drunk on hormones and powerfully throbbing desire.

Ali could feel her pussy aching to be filled. She tried not to get too bogged down by the disappointment she felt when she realized that she hadn’t packed any toys for the trip. It had been a harried departure and the trip was unusually last-minute so she tried to forgive herself and let it go. But goddamn did she want to be fucked by her wife with her knobby dildo right that fucking minute. She felt a gush between her legs at the wanton thought and sucked harder on Ashlyn’s tongue in her mouth.

“I need you to fuck me...” she gasped in a breathy whisper.

“That’s good because that’s exactly what I’m planning to do” Ashlyn responded, her words slightly slurred from drinking and from her swollen lips that had already had a hardcore workout. She saw that they were at the edge of the bed behind Ali and she turned them around and gave the brunette a little push back towards the dresser and desk area. She sat on the side of the bed and watched Ali’s face frown in confusion for a second. “Go get what you want” the keeper pointed towards her suitcase next to the dresser while pulling her unhooked bra all the way off of her body.

“What?” Ali tilted her head at her wife as she tried to work through the push back and the separation and the words that she thought she understood but didn’t want to get overly excited about until she was sure. And Ashlyn’s commanding voice was doing things to her too. Wonderful, wet, sexy things.

“Bring me what I need to fuck you...soooo goooood...”

Ali froze for a second before turning and quickly rifling through Ashlyn’s suitcase. It didn’t take long to find the discreet black gym bag that they used to transport their sexy times toys in and the brunette let out a squeal of pure excitement when she felt the familiar knobs of her favorite dildo. She took a minute and stripped out of the rest of her clothes before bringing the strap-on back to the bed. Ashlyn was bent over removing her socks, the last bits of clothing she still wore, and was happy to see her eager wife kneeling in front of her with the harness open and ready for the keeper to step into. Ali slid the harness up Ashlyn’s long legs, hoping upon hope that she wouldn’t make her go and wash the strap-on first. They were very fastidious about cleaning their toys but the brunette thought she might lose her mind if they stopped to wash it again right now. Thankfully, Ashlyn simply lifted her butt up so Ali could slide the harness into place.

“I can’t believe you brought this” she chuckled as she climbed onto the bed behind her keeper to make sure the harness wasn’t twisted. “Thank fucking God...”

Ali sat on the bed behind her wife, with her legs on either side of Ashlyn’s. She ran her hands up and down the blonde’s back and rubbed her shoulders and squeezed her waist and teased her skin with soft, subtle touches. Ashlyn inserted the knobby dildo into the harness between her legs and enjoyed the sensations coming from her wife’s hands. There was pent up energy between them and they both felt it distinctly. Ashlyn was feeling bossy and was about to give her beautiful brunette another command when she felt Ali’s hands reaching around her for her breasts. The brunette trailed her fingers gently around the soft, sensitive flesh and pressed hot, open-mouthed kisses to Ashlyn’s bare shoulders and neck. Ali teased her keeper’s nipples and exhaled slow, sultry words into her ear before sucking on the earlobe and releasing it with a little nibble.

“I want you so bad...”

The feel of Ali’s stiff nipples poking her in the back, and Ali’s strong fingers tugging on her breasts, and Ali’s coarse short hairs pressed right up tight against the top of her ass...fuck, Ashlyn was struggling to maintain control. They had gone from 0 to 60 in about 10 seconds. But that’s how it was with them sometimes. Sometimes they just needed the tiniest little spark to get the blaze between them roaring. 

“What are you gonna do about it then?” the keeper husked out as she let her own hands travel slowly up and down her wife’s toned legs. 

The room was too warm because Ashlyn had turned the thermostat up before they left after checking in that morning. She was surprised that the brunette hadn’t made it cooler when she came back to change her clothes. It was too dark too. The longstanding preference to keep a light on so they could see each other had never waned for either woman. The only light in the room now was coming from the bathroom near the entrance to the room, the bathroom door halfway shut. There was no music on either. Nobody had taken the time to make that happen when they returned after making sure both besties got to their own rooms for the night. Ali hadn’t given Ashlyn a chance to do anything before pouncing on her against the door to their room. Normally one of them would have gotten up and corrected at least one or two of those things before getting back to business, especially on a night away from home where they could take their time with each other. But they didn’t that night. They sat together on the edge of the bed, Ashlyn in between Ali’s legs, her back to Ali’s front, in the too warm, too dark, too quiet room and got lost in one another. The brunette was already starting to sweat a little bit but Ashlyn never cared about that. Ali always wanted to watch her gorgeous keeper’s body but she wasn’t going to move away from her to turn either of the bedside lights on. The only sound in the room was the faint traffic noise from the street below, an occasional muffled voice from the hotel hallway, and the heavy breathing, moans, and whimpers coming from their own bodies.

As if she needed another turn-on, Ali was getting even more worked up by her wife’s dominant behavior so far. It made an already desperate situation even more urgent for the brunette. She let her hands roam more freely around the front of her keeper’s body, enjoying the way Ashlyn’s skin responded to her touch with goosebumps. Ali slid her chest slowly from side to side across the blonde’s strong back, her lips leaving hot kisses and gentle nibbles at the back of her neck and her shoulders. She felt Ashlyn move backwards, pressing more into her crotch and spreading her legs out wider with her hands. The keeper reached behind her with one arm and pulled the brunette in closer to her, both women humming and moaning their approval of the tighter contact. 

Ali had one hand at her wife’s breast and the other teasing the wave atop Poseidon’s head on the inside of her thigh as they both increased the pace and intensity of touches. She hadn’t forgotten her keeper’s bold challenge from a few minutes earlier. It’s just that her mouth had been busy and her brain had been so preoccupied with all of the pale skin and dark ink that she couldn’t formulate an answer yet.

“Fuck Ash...you’re so damned sexy...” she practically drooled into her wife’s ear as her hand slid slowly up the blonde’s thigh towards slick folds and an aching core. 

Ali traced the black harness up around her keeper’s mound and the knobby dildo that stood there ready for action. It moved slightly as Ashlyn’s body rocked slowly front to back in time with the brunette’s gently grinding hips. The blonde had one hand wrapped around her wife’s leg, just above the knee, while the other one grabbed at Ali’s ass. She was contemplating her next move, frustrated with the lack of brunette body she could see and touch in their current position. Ali was getting some pressure on her sensitive clit every time she pressed her hips forward into Ashlyn’s ass but she wanted more. A lot more. She pinched one of the keeper’s nipples and made her hiss with pain and pleasure. She slid a finger beneath the strap-on and passed it across Ashlyn’s aching clit.

“Jesus...” the blonde sucked in a sharp breath and tried to lean into her wife’s finger.

“Mmmm...baby, I love you so much...” Ali’s sultry voice went right to the keeper’s burning core. “I’m gonna love you so good right now...”

Ashlyn gasped when she felt the brunette take hold of the dildo with one hand and press it firmly back into her sensitive nub. Fuck that felt good. Everything felt good to the keeper as Ali wrapped her whole body around hers from behind. She kept playing with the strap-on with one hand and working more fingers of her other hand between the base of it and Ashlyn’s soaking wet center.

“Fuck Al...fuck...”

Ali took her hand, full of Ashlyn’s passion, and rubbed it all over the dildo, her breath hitching when she felt the keeper starting to thrust her hips up into the dildo in her hand. That was fucking sexy as hell and the brunette felt her entire body react – a gush between her legs, an ache in her clit, a twinge in her breasts.

“Does that feel good, baby?” she purred into Ashlyn’s ear, licking the edge and then kissing her neck again. “I wanna make you feel so good...so fucking good...”

The impromptu hand job felt better than good and Ashlyn got more and more into it as her clit started throbbing at the delicious contact. They both knew the keeper wouldn’t get off this way but it was fun and hot and a great way to kick things off. Ali was enjoying it more than a lot. The ache between her legs was beginning to become painful as she rocked with her wife, pressing the toy back into her clit with an increasing rhythm that Ashlyn seemed intent on speeding up. The brunette wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold out before needing some personal attention herself.

“Feels good...” Ashlyn grunted. “Yeah...mmmmmm...fuck yeah...”

They kept at it for a few minutes, both getting more and more turned on. Every time Ali slid her hand down to the base of the dildo she could feel how wet her wife was. She could hear how wet she was. The brunette had her free hand wrapped around Ashlyn’s stomach, holding their bodies as tightly together as possible, pressing her own needy pussy right up against her keeper’s ass and back. Finally, when she couldn’t stand it anymore, when the need was too great, when the desire to be filled by her wife was overwhelming, Ali got up and deftly moved around to Ashlyn’s front. She hovered over her keeper’s lap, kneeling on the bed and straddling her as she crashed their lips together again in another steamy kiss.

“I need you inside me...” Ali pleaded, breathlessly, after the kiss. “I need you right fucking now...”

She reached down and guided the strap-on towards her drenched and ready entrance, letting Ashlyn hold onto her hips and steady her at the same time. Ali slowly sank down onto the dildo, feeling each and every one of the delicious knobs along the way. She thought, at first, that she might come just from taking the toy all the way inside her throbbing pussy, but she didn’t. And, as much as she wanted her release after hours of thinking about having sex with her sexy keeper, she was relieved not to get off so quickly. It felt amazing to be in Ashlyn’s arms, on her lap, completely full of her magnificent wife. She wanted to enjoy it for a few minutes longer before the long-awaited orgasm took over.

“You ready for me to fuck you now?” Ashlyn’s voice was low and thick and full of want.

“Mmmm Hmmm...” Ali nodded and dropped her head down so it hung next to her wife’s, their cheeks touching while the brunette’s forearms rested on top of Ashlyn’s shoulders. “I need you baby...”

Ashlyn ducked her head down and let her mouth feast on the two small, perfect breasts there. She pulled Ali’s body in closer and held onto her tightly, arms wrapped low around the brunette’s back. She leaned back, relying on Ali’s weight and position to keep them from falling back onto the bed, and started thrusting up into her beautiful brunette with strong, deep strokes. She needed her arms to support them for better results and leaned back on them, palms down on the bed and muscles flexing with the effort. Ali begrudgingly let her wife go, staying upright on her lap and moving her hands to squeeze and tug on pretty pink nipples below her. They both enjoyed the view – the woman they loved moving and shaking, body rocking and breasts bouncing along to the rhythm Ashlyn set for them. Ali used her knees for support and lowered herself down in time with her keeper’s strong, fast, upward thrusts – climbing quickly towards her release. She could feel an enormous orgasm forming and got lightheaded just thinking about how good it was going to be.

“Now what feels good...?” Ashlyn asked, panting from exertion and pausing briefly between words as she continued to pump hard and fast.

All Ali could do was moan at that point. She was so close and they both knew it. Her useless hands tried to attend to Ashlyn’s nipples but it was no use. She was too far gone now.

“Unnnhhh...” she moaned as her head lolled from side to side, mouth open slightly, tiny beads of sweat dripping down her chest and back. “Oh...my...God...”

“That’s right” Ashlyn grunted again, sweating herself in the warm room and still gasping every third word. “That’s what feels good baby...you know it. You know you love it when I fuck you.”

“Fuck me...so good...baby...”

“You gonna...come for me...now?” the keeper panted out, feeling the muscles in her arms ache and her quads burn.

“Yes...fuck yes...please...I wanna come...so bad...” she whimpered as her legs spread out wider, unable to stay steady or strong anymore. “I need...to come...please baby...”

“Rub your clit” Ashlyn’s thick voice commanded. She regretted not being able to take care of it herself but had chosen not to switch their positions. Next time she would know better and take the time to get Ali on her back. “Come for me Al...come hard for me now...”

It took the brunette a few seconds to get her arm and hand and fingers to cooperate, but once she started touching her sensitive bud she perked up enough to keep it going. Just as she was about to start the final bit of her climb, Ashlyn’s forceful voice was back.

“I want to taste you...” she husked out. “Put your fingers in my mouth...hurry up...”

Again, it took Ali a beat to register the new instruction, but once she did, she didn’t hesitate. She opened her eyes to see Ashlyn’s impossibly dark hazel ones staring lustfully up at her, waiting for her taste. The brunette felt another rush of passion between her legs and fought the urge to close her eyes again. Instead, she moved her fingertips towards Ashlyn’s lips and watched the blonde reach out quickly with her mouth and suck them inside with a satisfied moan.

“Mmmmm...”

They locked eyes while the keeper sucked and licked her wife’s delicious fingers, all the while thrusting and sweating.

“Oh God...” Ali felt her eyes start to roll back into her head when she moved her other hand to her clit, rubbing again as fast as she could. “Oh yeah...yeah...oh fuck...oh my God...”

The orgasm hit her like a freight train. The force was so powerful that it knocked Ashlyn flat on her back on the bed. It was only a few seconds before Ali fell forward on top of her as her entire body shook and quaked through the waves of incredible pleasure. Ashlyn held her close and felt every ripple and spasm that her beautiful brunette’s body made.

“That’s it baby...” she cooed into Ali’s ear. “I’ve got you...just let go...that’s it...yessss...”

They stayed like that for a long time. Ashlyn loved the weight of her wife’s limp body on top of her. She never felt safer or more powerful than she did in times like that. She was happy that the brunette made no effort to move for at least 10 minutes. The room was filled with their racing heartbeats and their gasping attempts at catching their breath. There would be time for Ali to reciprocate, and probably for a round two, but not just yet. They both were happy to lay there, skin to skin, chest to chest, and just be together in that intimate way. It was an amazing feeling.

“Take it out...” Ali requested softly after those 10 minutes had passed, lifting her hips up high so her wife could do as asked.

As soon as the dildo was out, she dropped her body back down on top of Ashlyn’s, making her grunt from the abrupt contact.

“Ooof” the keeper chuckled. “You good baby?” she asked sweetly, petting Ali’s head and trying to brush her dark hair out of her face – what little of her face she could see and feel.

“No, YOU’RE good” the brunette laughed softly as she turned her head to press a kiss into her keeper’s smiling cheek. “You’re fucking incredible babe. Jesus Christ” she chuckled contentedly and slowly wiggled her body back and forth as if she had a tail she could wag to express how happy she was. “That was amazing.”

“You’re amazing” Ashlyn turned her head and kissed her wife’s lips while her big hands moved slowly up and down Ali’s back and ass. “Mmmm...” she hummed and hugged the brunette tight again. “Thanks again for coming to NYC with me this weekend.”

“My pleasure” Ali giggled and grinned. “Believe me.”


	37. The Last First Thanksgiving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday Ashlyn Michelle Harris in real life today!!  
> And we're getting close to the end of this one. Just 3 more chapters I think. I'm still working on the ending so I'm not sure exactly how many chapters, but the end is near.  
> But Part 14 is already mostly plotted out. I'll get started on that soon.  
> And I'm so excited to watch the NWSL playoff games tomorrow! They should both be great games. Hopefully the refs get control early and keep control so NC and Portland don't just manhandle their way to the championship game again. Let the beautiful game be beautiful too, instead of just a bone-crunching bloodbath, please.

November was all about women’s college soccer and Meg’s talented Boston College Eagles team. The extended Krieger family was still riding high from the Boston Breakers NWSL Championship victory out in Los Angeles on October 22nd. They were also very hopeful about the way the NE Revs postseason was looking as the MLS playoffs continued on. Tanner Wild and his teammates had a legitimate shot at the title again. But the rush and excitement surrounding Meg – sweet little Meg who was now a senior and a co-captain and the starting goalkeeper for her team, was hard to beat that year. 

The first two weeks of November saw 3rd ranked BC go all the way to the Finals of the ACC tournament. There were only 8 teams in the conference but they were all top-tier performers in women’s Division 1 soccer. Meg and her teammates defeated Florida State and then Virginia before facing their nemesis, #1 ranked North Carolina, in the championship game. The Eagles played hard and well but couldn’t beat the Tarheels. Those goddamned Tarheels and their dominant women’s soccer program. For the first time in her life, Ashlyn resented her alma mater’s unmatched success. She would never admit it to anybody, not even her wife, but she had been praying for UNC to lose that game. The only consolation was that Meg and Gwen had both played well. A lot of soccer experts were talking about BC’s head coach, Niki Cross, and the impressive work she’d done in her first two seasons in the position to get the Eagles to the next level. Everybody was looking forward to seeing what the team could do in the NCAA College Cup which started one week later.

“I’m really proud of you Meg” Ali spoke seriously, her voice catching just a bit as she tried to hold her emotions together through a half-smile, half-grimace. 

It was 5:00pm on Sunday November 13th and the ACC Final had been over for about two hours. Meg had just sat down next to the brunette on an empty bench halfway between the field and the parking lot with a crestfallen look on her face. The players had all showered and changed and were waiting to go to dinner with their families – the ones who were lucky enough to have family at the game. The rest of the team would eat together before the whole team caught a late flight home to Boston that night. Cary, NC had been the host, again, for the round 2 and championship games played that weekend. None of the other teams liked that the big tournaments and championship games always seemed to be held in North Carolina. It felt like an unfair home field advantage – every single year. No wonder UNC kept winning. But, as much as everybody liked to bitch about it, the fact of the matter was that North Carolina was the geographic middle ground for the ACC. Boston was the farthest to the North and Florida State was the farthest to the South, with Clemson, Pitt, Virginia, Wake Forest, Duke, and UNC in between. It’s just the way the ACC conference was. The fields in Cary, NC were in better shape and the stadium could accommodate more fans than the other nearby pitches at Duke, Wake Forest, or Virginia. 

“But we lost” Meg shook her head and shot Ali a pained, almost offended look from her seat next to her on the bench. Drew was on the brunette’s other side, nose buried in his phone while he slouched there with his legs stretched out in front of him. He seemed oblivious to his big sister or her feelings. 

“But you almost won” Ali countered carefully. She could see how raw the young woman’s emotions were. “And you played your ass off” she continued in a steady, even tone as her own emotions settled into a new purpose. “And you took control of your team down the stretch and you led them like a champion today. That’s hard as hell to do, but you did it. And I’m so freaking proud of you honey.”

She put her arm loosely around the redhead’s shoulders, rubbing the top of her shoulder slowly with her thumb. Ali moved her gaze back to the pitch where Ashlyn was rounding up the other three kids and talking with someone from Niki’s staff. Meg kept her eyes on her lap, fiddling with her phone in her hands but not actually looking at it. A few teammates and parents patted the keeper on the back as they walked past the bench on their way to the parking lot, but Meg never moved or acknowledged them. 

“Yo Douce!” a big booming voice called out, accompanied by several other voices and boisterous laughter.

Ali turned her head and watched a gaggle of young people approaching with big grins on their faces. They were decked out in maroon Boston College colors and gear and looked to be about the same age as the devastated redhead.

“Nichelle? Zoe? Ike?” Meg stood up and greeted the group of her friends and former teammates from high school with a surprised, beaming smile of her own. There were about 12 college seniors and recent graduates who clustered around the redhead and greeted her with hugs and fistbumps and long-remembered special handshakes. “What are you guys doing here?”

“I told you we were coming this year if you made the Finals” Nichelle laughed and gave Meg another hug. “And you almost won the damned thing!”

“You played a great game” Zoe added, arm slung low around her boyfriend Ike’s waist. Meg had been surprised to hear that they had somehow managed to stay together all throughout their respective collegiate experiences. “Olivia says hi too. She couldn’t make it, but she’s been following your tourney.”

Ali sat there, forgotten, and smiled as she took in the reunion. Drew was watching now too. Washington DC was a solid 5-hour drive and she was impressed by the commitment Meg’s old HS friends had made to be there. The brunette listened intently as the group got comfortable with Meg, many of them having not seen her in several years. Ali had heard about most of the young men and women standing around her stepdaughter over the years, and it was nice to finally see and hear them in action. Just as Meg turned back to her and opened her mouth to say something to her, Ali heard her wife’s voice call out a friendly hello as she and the younger Krieger kids made their way to the boisterous new group. Naturally, Josie, Dodge and Lily all moved towards Ali on the bench while Ashlyn greeted Meg’s friends, shaking hands and taking selfies with the couple of young women who asked for them. Even Ike Quarles, the former Tenleytown high school basketball star who had gone on to a mediocre collegiate career at Virginia Tech, seemed a bit starstruck by Ashlyn Harris.

“And this is my other mom, Ali,” Meg finally got her brain back after a few minutes had passed. She moved towards the bench and put her arm around Drew’s shoulder, smiling at her family. “And my brothers and sisters, Drew, Lily, Josie, and Dodge.”

“I thought the other lady was her mom?” one of the boyfriends asked his girlfriend, a former basketball teammate of Meg’s.

“I have several wives” Ashlyn quipped with a straight face that fooled most of Meg’s friends. “Didn’t you know? We’re doing a reality show too, it’ll be on in January...”

“Oh God Ash, what trouble are you stirring up now?” Hannah laughed as she joined them, playfully smacking her ex’s arm and waving her phone towards the young people. “You kids are all set. There were only 3 rooms left so you’ll have to share, but at least you won’t have to make that drive back until the morning.”

“Thanks Mrs. Doucette” several of the group murmured appreciatively.

“You’re welcome. Don’t make me regret it now. I mean it” she fixed them with a stern look, resting finally on Nichelle, the girl she knew the best and trusted the most from Meg’s high school days. “Don’t make me call your mamas...”

“We won’t Mrs. D.” Nichelle nodded and grinned. “Thank you so much.”

Ashlyn and Ali exchanged a surprised look as they came to understand that Hannah had just paid for 3 hotel rooms for the group so they could stay and have dinner with Meg and the family instead of hopping back into their cars and driving all the way back to DC within the hour. It was a constant wonder, to Ali in particular, how this Hannah could be at all related to the horrible Hannah from 2015. It just didn’t make sense sometimes. But then she remembered Ashlyn always saying that Hannah had been nice in the beginning – there was no way Ashlyn would have gotten serious with her if Hannah hadn’t been a decent human being when they started dating. Now that the older redhead had extra money in her bank account, her generosity and kindness seemed to be bigger and on display more often. Ali wasn’t sure if she would ever get used to it, but she appreciated the change very much. 

It was a little disappointing for the Krieger family to have to share Meg’s big night with the group of high school friends, and the handful of Hannah’s friends who had also joined her in Cary, NC for the weekend. The somewhat intimate dinner they had been looking forward to had turned into a much bigger deal and none of them had more than a brief minute to talk with their sister or daughter before Meg had to race off to meet her teammates for the bus to the airport. But seeing the enormous smile that broke out on Meg’s face the instant she saw her old friends, and that had stayed there throughout the entire 2 hours of crazy dinner reunion, told them everything they needed to know about whether or not Meg was enjoying herself. 

Hannah even paid for everybody’s dinner and then graciously displayed the same kind of generosity when BC made it all the way to the semi-finals of the College Cup in early December. She paid for flights to College Station, Texas as well as hotels for the entire extended Krieger family so they could all be there for Meg for, hopefully, the semi-final and the Championship game two days later. Meg’s team lost to Stanford in the semi-final game Friday night, December 9th but they had represented Boston College proudly and put up a hell of a fight. The game had gone to pks, still tied 2-2 after regulation and extra time, and Meg had also shone in the tense final minutes of the game. She managed to block one of Stanford’s penalty kicks, and the diving, stretching, acrobatic save made it to SportsCenter’s top 10 plays of the week! But, frustratingly, her teammates couldn’t convert enough of their own kicks to get the win. The team, and Meg, were devastated to go deeper into the tournament than any women’s soccer team in BC history had before – only to lose in the penultimate game. The extended Krieger clan stayed for the weekend though, as planned. They spent time with Meg and Gwen and finally got to meet Gwen’s family. Hannah had flown them in from Iowa for the weekend too. It was a special time for Meg and the whole family knew it. Even Drew, so frustratingly teenagery those days, was content to hang out with his family for Meg’s sake that weekend. He had always adored and looked up to Meg. She often got the very best version of Drew and that weekend was no exception.

Ashlyn’s phone dinged later that night just as she was about to silence it for the night and go to sleep.

“I bet that’s her” Ali yawned and rolled over in the hotel bed to face her wife, her voice and face both tired from a long, emotional Friday night in College Station, Texas. “What’d she say?” she asked, referencing the text message that had just landed in Ashlyn’s phone.

The weary and heartbroken blonde looked at the dim screen as she sat there in the hotel bed, leaning against the headboard.

Megatron: Are you guys up?  
Ashlyn: Yes.  
Megatron: ...  
Ashlyn: Need to talk?  
Megatron: Be there in 5.

Niki and the coaches had allowed the players to stay with their families that night if they wanted to, and Meg hadn’t been sure what to do at first. She was co-captain and she wanted to be at the team hotel for her teammates. But she also was crushed and needed her family. Hannah had pressured her into staying with the family but both Ashlyn and Ali, former college athletes, knew the young woman wouldn’t be able to be away from her team that night. It was just after 11pm and the text had come sooner than either Ali or Ashlyn had expected.

As soon as Meg entered through the propped-open door she made a beeline for the two moms who were both sitting up in the hotel bed, glasses on, and ready to talk or listen or whatever their girl needed. She stood at the foot of the bed for a few seconds, hands nervously playing with the drawstring of her joggers while her face changed about 5 different times as heavy emotions swept past. Ali frowned sympathetically and tilted her head as she gave the redhead a soft, sad smile. Ashlyn’s smile was slightly bigger as she patted the bed between she and her wife. That was all the invitation Meg needed. She crawled up the middle of the bed and plopped face-down between the two wives, one arm across each lap, and her head turned to face Ashlyn. She didn’t say anything, she just held onto them tightly and tried not to cry.

“Aw, honey, you ok?” Ali cooed as she held onto Meg’s forearm with one hand and rubbed her maroon sweatshirt-clad back with the other.

“Hey kiddo, you’re gonna be alright” Ashlyn added while brushing some unruly red hair away from her sorrowful girl’s face and holding her arm with her other hand. “Tonight’s gonna be rough for all of you. But you’re gonna be ok.”

“I thought we really had a chance tonight, I really did” her voice was thick and heavy and sad.

“So did we” Ali met her wife’s concerned hazel eyes quickly. “Especially after you blocked that pk.”

“But sports are cruel as hell sometimes” Ashlyn repeated what several people had already told the team that evening, postgame. She kept her hand on Meg’s head and patted it slowly, lovingly. “Nothing tests you like the Sports Gods do” she chuckled softly. “I can promise you that.”

“I just thought...I don’t know...after losing to UNC like that, in their house, that this might be different this weekend” she paused after referencing the ACC final 4 weeks earlier and sighed heavily. “It already felt more fair. I thought we could do it. I really thought we would do it after I made that block” her voice quiet as she admitted her hubris. “And then...”

“Your team let you down tonight. There’s no sense sugarcoating it” Ali spoke slowly and clearly. “Just like you let them down against Syracuse. The second goal in that game was on you but your team fought back and scored the game-winner for you...”

“I know. I just feel...ugh...I’m mad that I can’t come back next year and do it again, only better. You know? I’m done. All the others...” she sniffled and Ali and Ashlyn frowned sadly at each other as the girl fought off tears.

“It’s hard to hear them talking about using this for fuel for next year isn’t it?” Ashlyn asked carefully, not sure if this was the sore spot or not yet.

“Yeah” Meg squeaked out as her throat closed up and tears finally started to fall. “I can’t...come back...next year...” she gasped through breaks in crying. “I just...have to...live with it...forever...”

They were all quiet for a few minutes, letting the redhead cry and then collect herself a bit.

“When I broke my leg and then all the other stuff with my heart” Ali rolled her eyes at the memory of the injuries and medical situation that had halted her promising soccer career in her sophomore year at Penn State, “I had a lot of that same feeling, for a very very long time.”

Meg sniffled again and turned her head so it faced the brunette as she continued talking.

“And I’m not telling you not to feel it honey” she cupped Meg’s pink cheek and nodded at the broken-hearted girl, “you should feel it and feel all of it. Remember what this feels like but don’t stay there in it. Don’t live in it. Don’t let it live inside you either.”

“But...how?”

“When you’re ready you just tell yourself you’re done with that. You find a way, whatever it takes, and you turn that sadness and anger and regret into fuel for whatever you want next in your life. It doesn’t have to be your next college season. It can be your first pro season or your first pro training camp or your first job. Whatever your next goal is...”

“I wanna get drafted into the NWSL next January” Meg spoke decisively. “And I wanna make a roster for training camp. And I wanna make a club roster, for the season. And I want to be a starter in the NWSL.”

As soon as she heard the first want, Ashlyn beamed from her place, out of view of her stepdaughter. But the grin was infectious and it soon spread to Ali’s face while Meg was still talking.

“That’s great Meggie, really great” the brunette nodded and smiled broadly down at the redhead. “Then that’s all you need to do. Use these feelings, whatever they might be – and they’ll change over the next 12 months before next January, believe me” she chuckled. “But you know what you want. Your next step isn’t next season at BC. So what?” she shrugged. “You let the rest of the team and Niki worry about that. You just focus on you and your next step and channel all those emotions towards achieving that goal and there’s nothing you can’t do. Absolutely nothing.”

There was a moment of stillness and quiet and the two moms could almost see Meg’s heart and soul, her empty tank, starting to fill up, just a tiny bit. Ashlyn winked at her wife as they smiled at each other.

“You better not be getting snot all in my bed now” the blonde playfully warned after the quiet but powerful moment passed among them.

“Oh geez, you know how she is about her bed” Ali rolled her eyes and giggled as Meg made all sorts of snorting and slurping sounds, pretending to wipe her nose and face on the sheets beneath her.

“Gross! Come on!” Ashlyn whined and pulled the redhead towards her, rolling her onto her back and into the blonde’s lap. They all knew she was only half-kidding, which meant she was at least halfway serious too. “You brat” Ashlyn shook her head when it became clear that Meg had been just teasing her.

“Ha! Got her Megski!” Ali laughed her short, loud, shout of a laugh and gave them both a big grin.

“Honestly, I don’t know how you put up with her” Meg rolled her eyes at Ali, hugging Ashlyn’s arm to her chest at the same time. “Such a diva about her bed. I’d be afraid to even get into it every night.”

“Don’t even get me started. You have no idea” the brunette chuckled.

They all laughed, even Ashlyn, happy to have the heaviness of the previous conversation lifted. If Ashlyn had to be the butt of the joke to make that happen, then she was fine with that.

“Seriously guys, thank you” Meg added softly after sitting up between them, facing them, and taking one hand each in her own. “I was really feeling shitty. Guilty too...”

“You’d better get over there if you’re going” Ashlyn nodded at her knowingly. “Want me to give you a ride back?”

“Can I really?” she looked eagerly from one face to the other. “Mom’ll kill me.”

“Don’t worry about your mom” Ashlyn smiled tenderly and squeezed Meg’s hand in both of hers with a reassuring nod. “You just go do what you need to do, Captain.”

“But hurry up or everybody’ll be asleep by the time you get back” Ali encouraged. “Go on. Let Ash drive you.”

“Thanks you guys...” the redhead’s face started to crumble again.

“Oh Jesus” Ashlyn teased as she started to get out of the bed to throw on sweats for the short drive to the team’s hotel. “Don’t go crying again. You’ve already ruined one bed for me tonight.”

Meg’s face flashed with irritation for a brief second and she looked like her 10-year old self. She pushed Ashlyn hard as she got out of bed and they all laughed at the way the blonde almost fell on her ass.

“God, don’t break her” Ali chuckled. “I need her to help keep track of everybody this weekend!”

“Thanks baby” Ashlyn righted herself and gave her wife a polite, almost haughty nod back. “Don’t touch the merchandise” she teased Meg, still using the regal theme and trying not to laugh at herself. She stepped into her sweats and grabbed her small messenger bag and rental car keys, stopping by the door to slip into her slides there. “Make sure the servants come up and change the bed before I get back” she turned her attention to Ali again as Meg joined her by the door, “I can’t have all that slobber everywhere. It just won’t do.”

“As you wish my queen” Ali played along and gave her silly wife a respectful bow of her head in reply.

“You guys are nuts” Meg shook her head and laughed. “But I love you. A lot.”

//

The busy November full of Meg’s last soccer games was further complicated by the Thanksgiving holiday which fell during 2nd and 3rd round College Cup games which were held out in Southern California. Ashlyn and Ali both wanted to be there for Meg’s games but they didn’t want to miss Thanksgiving with the rest of the family, or the twins turn, finally, to participate in the First Thanksgiving event at the elementary school. Nobody knew what to do about the conundrum at first, but Debbie Christopher offered up a very viable solution for all of it.

“I’ll go to Kyle’s for Thanksgiving. You guys take the kids and go to Meg’s games for the weekend. Tammye and Carol can decide whether they want to stay at home with Chris and Beth and Mike or if they want to fly out with you guys” she shrugged after spelling it all out after BC had made it through the crazy first round of games. It was Sunday November 20th, just four days before Thanksgiving.

“What about Dad?” Ali asked as she considered the potential solution. “And Syd...she’s had such a hard year...”

“Your father and Vicki can host this year and Syd can go there if that’s what she and Sandi want to do. And Koty will bring Bri and Tori to your dad’s. And Tanner might be home too if the Revs don’t start playing a whole lot better” the older woman chuckled. “And maybe Syd and Dom just want a quiet weekend at home this year? You never know.”

“But we’ve got the First Thanksgiving on Tuesday. Ashlyn is there right now working on the Pilgrim settlement” Ali furrowed her brow, trying hard to find a way through the scheduling conflicts.

“So just fly out Wednesday then” Deb shrugged again. “That’s when the team’s flying out too, right?”

“Yeah, but...”

“So then you can be there with Meg for Thanksgiving too. It’s perfect” the wise, white-haired woman finally rested her case.

It was Meg who eventually convinced the two moms not to make the cross-country flight that week. 

“Do you remember when Mike died and I didn’t know what to do?” she asked over speakerphone later that same Sunday afternoon, talking with both Ashlyn and Ali together.

“Yes, but this is different” Ali started to counter the argument.

“No. Not really. You told me to stay with my team and do what I needed to do. That Mike would have wanted it that way...”

“Ok, but Al’s right, this is different” Ashlyn chimed in.

“The only thing that’s different is that I’m alive and telling you not to make the trip. Stay there with your team and do what you need to do. Please.” She waited for a minute and spoke again when neither mom made a reply. “Dodge and Lily have been waiting for their First Thanksgiving for EVER. Please don’t take anything away from that for them, especially not on my account. I really don’t want you to” she took a quick breath and spoke that last line very directly. “Besides, if we lose Friday night and you made the whole trip for nothing, I’d never forgive myself. Please don’t come.”

But BC won their Friday night game against Pepperdine, and then their Sunday afternoon game against Syracuse too. Both moms felt regret for missing the games but supported the team as best they could from Massachusetts, joining the team-sponsored watch parties on the BC campus in Newton. They knew in their hearts they had made the right decision and were glad they hadn’t tried to take time away from the final preparations for Dodge and Lily’s big Pilgrim debut. 

And what a First Thanksgiving it was. For the first time ever at East Gloucester Elementary School, the 4th grade class was involved alongside the 5th graders. In the past, 5th graders had constituted both the Native American Wampanoag population as well as the Pilgrim constituent. It was strictly a 5th grade event. But as the First Thanksgiving reenactment had become more popular over the years, more interest from other schools had been generated as well. In the past, some of the other public schools in Gloucester had come to EGE to enjoy the reenactment. But now, schools from nearby towns were making the trip as well. In preparation for this new level of interest and demand, the settlements had been expanded, which meant that the parents had to do a lot more work building both ‘sets’ for the kids to use for their one-day claim to fame. It also meant that the cast of characters had to be increased as well. That meant adding the 4th graders to the festivities.

Naturally, both Dodge and Lily were upset that they hadn’t been able to participate when they had been 4th graders. They thought the whole thing was tragically unfair. But they quickly got over their butt hurt feelings and immersed themselves in their roles. From now on, the 5th graders would play the Pilgrim settlers and the 4th graders would play the Wampanoags. That’s how it worked for the next decade too. 

Dodge was given the part of Myles Standish and he was very pleased with himself about it. Myles Standish was a big deal and one of the best-known participants in the history of the Pilgrims. It was the most high-profile role any of the Krieger kids had ever been given, but not by too much. Drew had been given the pivotal role of Squanto four years earlier – the native American scout who wasn’t a member of the Wampanoag tribe but lived with the Pilgrims as a translator. Squanto was quiet by nature and not really a character who lived in the spotlight. Josie had portrayed Mary Brewster 2 years ago and done so very very well. Mary was one of only four women colonists who survived the deadly first winter in Plymouth and was an important, senior member of the colony for many years to come, but also not a true headliner. Lily got the part of Susanna White Winslow, another of the four women who lived through that brutal first winter. Her bestie Tahlia portrayed the third strong survivor, Elizabeth Hopkins. Those three women, along with Eleanor Bellington, formed the backbone of the colony, leading the rest of the Pilgrims, except for the male leaders, through sheer strength of purpose alone.

“Myles Standish was kind of a douche” Ashlyn put the history book she was reading down with a look of shock on her face. Ali had just joined her on the family room couch after collecting the kids’ phones for the night. “I mean, I knew he wasn’t the hero that poem made him out to be” the keeper continued, referencing Longfellow’s famous ‘The Courtship of Miles Standish’, “but man...” she shook her head slowly with wide eyes.

“Good, then you won’t mind taking a break” the brunette winked as she grabbed the history book from her wife’s lap and replaced it with her bare feet. She handed Ashlyn a bottle of nail polish and gave her a beguiling smile. 

“You know I love painting your nails” Ashlyn blinked up at her beautiful brunette and rubbed both her bare feet, “but Dodger asked me to help him and I want to get started this weekend because this month is going to fly by with Meg’s games.”

It was the first week of November and they were just getting ready for the ACC tournament to start in two days, on Saturday November 5th. Ashlyn was right about the timing of everything and Ali knew it. But it had been a busy week and she missed her keeper and wanted some one on one time with her. 

“Ok, well how about I read to you while your hands are busy?” she proposed earnestly, trying to find a good compromise. 

“See, now that’s why I love you so much baby” Ashlyn grinned back at her wife who was opening the book where her keeper had left off a minute earlier. “You’re always thinking.”

After reading and painting for half an hour, Ali furrowed her brow in frustration.

“He really was a jerk, wasn’t he?” she asked rhetorically as she thought about what she had just read.

“Only if you think being super aggressive and starting battles for every little thing, and being brutal as hell to the Indians no matter how non-threatening they tried to be, means being a jerk” Ashlyn met her eye as she blew softly on her drying toes.

“This isn’t what I remember learning about the Pilgrims” Ali shook her head. “It drives me crazy how they whitewash everything.”

“But that’s who writes the history books, right? White guys. We came here and moved in, uninvited, and killed a whole bunch of Wampanoag and other tribe members, but we’re the good guys. And the meanest guy in the bunch is who they write poems about” she rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. “So what do we tell Dodge?”

“I think we keep it the same with everything else” Ali began, sticking to the plan they had used with Meg, Drew, and Josie before the twins. “We tell him the truth – that most of the famous people in our history books are both good and bad in some ways. Just like the rest of us.”

“Ok, so we’ll make sure he knows that Myles Standish was a brave, skilled military man who did his job very well” Ashlyn continued. “He kept the colonists and Plymouth Plantation safe for over 30 years, until the day he died.”

“And that he was a borderline warmonger who used the colonists’ superior firepower much too quickly and way too easily” Ali finished the summary as they both nodded their heads in agreement.

The keeper was quiet for a few moments, letting her hands slowly and softly rub her wife’s feet while the nail polish dried.

“Please tell me Susanna White Winslow is less problematic” she sighed again and took comfort in the tender look Ali was giving her.

“Much less problematic” the brunette chuckled. “She and the other three women leaders made sure the settlement ran well, and that the children were all taken care of, and that everybody was abiding by their religious beliefs. I think the only slightly controversial thing about Susanna was that she married William White soon after they arrived on the Mayflower, and then after he died, she married Edward Winslow and had a bunch of kids with him. But that was just survival back then.”

“Yeah ok. I can live with that. I think Lily will be able to too.”

“She and Tahlia are already learning the names of all their children” Ali chuckled again and then hummed. “Mmmmm, that feels nice babe.”

“See how far you’ve come?” Ashlyn gave her a lopsided grin. “You used to hate me touching your feet.”

“You wore me down” Ali giggled. “What can I say? Your hands...I love your hands, even on my feet.”

By the time Tuesday November 22nd came, Ashlyn and Ali had both spent a lot of time building the two settlements over in the woods behind the elementary school. After five years and two previous kids participating, the two moms were the resident experts on what needed to be done to get each different compound constructed and completed so it was good enough and sturdy enough, but not too permanent to be difficult to tear down when it was all over. The Krieger moms were careful not to overcommit to anything though. They knew they had busy schedules that month so they agreed to help but wouldn’t commit to running the whole show. They were happy to offer guidance and answer questions from the three people in charge of the event, but they just couldn’t take on any of the actual responsibility. The parents that knew about big sister Meg and her collegiate soccer schedule completely understood. The parents that didn’t know didn’t understand. But, as always, Ali and Ashlyn didn’t really care about that. They knew they were doing the right thing. They knew they had done their due diligence and been upfront with everybody. And, ultimately, they showed up when they were supposed to and did the hard work just like everybody else.

Ali’s phone buzzed Tuesday morning, an hour after they had reported to the Pilgrim settlement for duty with both twins.

Allstar: Got em. On my way back.  
Ali: great job babe  
Allstar: any meltdowns yet?  
Ali: not quite, but almost. Ms H is starting to lose it though so hurry up. lol  
Allstar: be there soon!

When they had arrived that morning, the new 5th grade teacher, Ms. Hepworth, was in a panic. Someone or something had gotten into the Pilgrim camp and destroyed, or possibly eaten if it had been an animal, anything plant-based that they could find. The gourds and pumpkins and cobs of corn and everything else of that nature needed to be replaced, and fast. Ashlyn had spent a lot of time putting all of those things into place originally so she knew, almost by heart, what needed to be purchased at the grocery store and she drove there as quickly as she could. 

Ms. Hepworth was a lovely young woman in her 30s who seemed to enjoy teaching and her students in equal, generous, amounts. The school administration had promised her that there would be plenty of assistance provided her for the First Thanksgiving event, and that had been key to her accepting the job in the first place. Everybody in the North Shore area knew about East Gloucester Elementary’s hallmark special event, and Ms. Hepworth viewed it as a positive attraction for the position. But she was also smart enough to understand that it was something that would require a lot of extra time and effort on her part. Knowing there were other people who were willing to assist her and show her the ropes had sealed the deal for her. 

But then things had started going wrong a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. Kids with prominent parts got sick and missed rehearsals. The lumber order was delivered with half of the material wet and rotted through and unable to be used. The latest problem was the damaged vegetable harvest, which was more than likely a prank carried out by older high school kids. Once Ashlyn returned and she and Ali helped Ms. Hepworth get everything back into place again, things settled down and the normal excitement and enthusiasm filled the Pilgrim settlement. The kids felt the welcome change in atmosphere and relaxed into their characters just as the first couple of visiting classrooms began to walk through both settlements.

“So how’s she doing?” Ashlyn asked her wife an hour later as they both stood watching their youngest daughter do her thing in the garden of the Pilgrim compound.

“She’s doing great” Ali nodded and smiled broadly. “Having she and Tahlia do this together was brilliant for both of them. I’m not sure either of them would be comfortable enough on their own.”

“Well, according to this version of history anyway, Susanna White and Elizabeth Hopkins were best friends who spent a lot of time tending the garden together” the keeper chuckled and put her arm around her wife’s shoulders in a soft side hug. “I’m totally ok with that.”

Ali had been assigned to oversee the crafting hut this year and she accepted gladly. Anything was better than the cooking enclosure and she had already done that once before. No need to relive that challenging experience. Ashlyn was the designated floater for the day. She basically walked around the Pilgrim settlement and did whatever needed doing. With both of their kids participating this year and having done both the Wampanoag and Pilgrim compounds in previous years with Josie and Drew, Ali and Ashlyn requested that they both be allowed to work with the Pilgrims. Ms. Hepworth agreed without complaint and made the day that much better for both moms.

“Look at him” Ali shook her head in wonder, enormous grin on her face later in the afternoon. “It’s like he was made for this. He really should have been Governor Bradford.”

She and Ashlyn stood side by side watching their boy completely embody Captain Myles Standish in the middle of the Pilgrim settlement. They listened as he explained his role in the colony to every parent, grandparent, and visiting student or teacher that asked him. Even if they didn’t come right out and ask him, he stepped towards anybody who walked near him and affably launched into his story. He didn’t shy away from the less savory aspects of the story either. He got a serious look on his face as he tried to convey remorse or regret – something nobody really believed the real Standish had felt.

“Sometimes I can be hotheaded and try to solve our problems with guns instead of finding a better way” he explained, the 10-year old suddenly sounding like an 18-year old in a college debate class. “But I did my job well and protected our colony for over 30 years...”

“He really is like the freaking mayor” Ashlyn’s eyes got big as she listened to their son get all his facts right and also greet each visitor like an old friend at the same time. “He definitely should have been the Governor” she agreed with a giggle and then a sigh.

“What’s that for?” Ali glanced sideways at her, bumping their shoulders together and tilting her head just a bit.

“Oh, I don’t know” Ashlyn replied wistfully. Her hazel eyes were light and bright in the cool, but sunny and beautiful November weather. “I’m so glad they’re both crushing it today...” she stopped and chewed on her bottom lip as she started to get choked up.

“I know” Ali wrapped her arm around her keeper’s waist and gave her a squeeze. “I’m sad too. But if you make me cry I’m gonna kill you so hold it together or get away from me.”

Ashlyn knew her wife was just kidding, but it was a good reminder that they each had a job to do that day too. Just as they were relying on other parent supervisors to make sure Lily didn’t hack somebody with the rudimentary hoe she was wielding, they needed to keep the kids and visitors in their own areas out of trouble too. Ashlyn also knew that her wife didn’t want to cry in front of everybody because once she started it was going to be nearly impossible to stop. She knew because she felt the exact same way that Ali did. They just had to hold it together until later that night when they could fall apart and grieve a huge milestone in their lives that would never happen again. Ever.

“I’m good” Ashlyn cleared her throat and reassured her wife. They shared a look that was full of so many different things that they would try to unpack later, in private. The keeper leaned over and gave her beautiful brunette a quick kiss on her lips before they both turned their attention back to the Pilgrim settlement bustling with energy all around them. “Happy Last First Thanksgiving baby.”


	38. Thanksgiving with Cousin Jeremiah

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is more of cousin Jeremiah's backstory. He's not a big part of the Kriegers' lives yet, so he hasn't been a huge part of this story yet. But here we get to know him a little bit better.  
> This chapter's a bit longer than usual.  
> Sorry for the week-long delay. Blah, blah, blah life...  
> Honestly though, sincerest apologies to all of you.

Thanksgiving itself turned out to be pretty stressful, all things considered. Deb stuck with her plans to go to NYC and even turned it into a Kimball family trip too. Jared Kimball and his mom Iris, Grammy I to the kids, joined Deb and the threesome took the train from Boston to NYC the day before Thanksgiving and didn’t return until the Monday afterwards. Ken and Vicki joined Tanner and Renee at Koty and Briana’s house for Thanksgiving Day and then drove up to visit the NH Kriegers on Friday. Aunt Becky’s health had continued to decline and Ken was relatively certain that this would be his sister-in-law’s last holiday season among the living. He wanted to be there for his older brother who had started to show some serious signs of aging as well over the past couple of years.

Dom Dwyer’s parents had come over from England and were planning to stay through Christmas and Sydney was glad for the visit and the extra hands but also overwhelmed by the prospect of playing host to her in-laws for 6 weeks. Luckily, the senior Dwyers booked a room in a nearby hotel so they could be around whenever anybody wanted them to be, but not under foot all the time. They weren’t new at the grandparent thing and had learned what worked best for everybody over the years.

Whitney and Ryan were perennially hosting their families again but they too had figured out how to be around for extended periods of time without wearing out their welcome. Becca and Tommy loved having their grandparents and especially their cousins around for the long weekend. Celebrating Whitney’s 46th birthday on Sunday, one day early, before everybody left again was the cherry on top of the sundae for the busy, stressed out mom.

Molly had followed Niki’s instructions, just as Ali and Ashlyn had followed Meg’s, and stayed put on the East coast instead of travelling all the way to California for BC’s College Cup game. Neither Cross mom liked being separated, especially on one of their favorite holidays, but they knew there were going to be some sacrifices like that made when Niki had accepted the head coaching job last year. 

Other random friends who ended up joining the Kriegers when other plans didn’t pan out were at a loss for what to do with themselves if Ali and Ashlyn didn’t invite them for Thanksgiving that year. And they didn’t invite anybody over because they weren’t sure themselves what their plans were going to be until a few days before Thanksgiving Day. That meant Erica Griggs and her daughter, 11-year old daughter Maisy, were going to have to work around Erica’s sister’s schedule and hope for the best. Liz and Jessie and Carm and Heather all had to rely on their own families instead of the warm and welcoming big old house for the day as well. 

Sarah and Erin Campbell-Warren and their 10-year old daughter Daphne were the ones truly put out by Ali and Ashlyn’s late decision about Thanksgiving plans that year. The architect and the horticulturist had been having a rough go of it marriage-wise and the past 6 months had been a real challenge for both of them. They were doing their best to work things out and everybody assumed it was just a typical bump in the road that so many married couples encountered. Ali and Sarah were still close friends and Ashlyn and Erin had grown closer every year since the keeper had enlisted the horticulturist’s help with her garden experiment seven years earlier. But Sarah and Erin were closest with Niki and Molly Cross. Molly and Sarah had clicked right away, after meeting through various Krieger and 4-family friend gatherings. The two women were now closer than even Ali and Sarah had grown since their split in early 2016. Molly, Sarah and Ali were a pretty close threesome who got together for a drink after work or for a business lunch in the city whenever they could. They usually saw each other like that every other month and tried not to go longer than 6 weeks without some sort of get-together, however brief.

Similarly, Niki and Erin had become good friends. The two couples did a lot of things together and Niki and Erin had been thrust together in a way, leftover when Molly and Sarah would dive into deep subjects that neither of them had any interest in or patience for. Niki and Erin were outdoorsy people and as soon as their wives started getting too urbane or academic, they would slip outside to the deck or the backyard for a more esoteric and less-wordy talk. Ashlyn was closer with Erin than she was with Sarah but she wasn’t particularly close with either woman. She liked them both, quite a lot actually, but if she had to pick whether to stay with Molly, Sarah and Ali, debating the latest book of short stories they had all just read, or to go with Niki and Erin to the back deck to playfully and adoringly make fun of their wives and their bookish ways, it was an easy choice for the keeper. 

Ashlyn read a lot more since hooking up with her beautiful brunette back in 2016, even starting before then, in 2015. She had wanted to impress her new Boston friend and tried to read new and popular books so they could discuss them together. The couple still enjoyed reading to each other in bed, but Ashlyn had given up trying to read just to impress her wife. She knew she didn’t need to because Ali loved her whether she read books or not. And once the kids started reading in school, both moms kept more than busy reading along as best they could with all four of their young readers. They always wanted to be able to talk to the kids about the books they were reading and answer any questions they had about them. That kept the keeper’s reading hours busy, to say the least. They eventually had to divide and conquer when it became clear that they couldn’t both keep up with all the books. They each took one twin and one older kid and tried to switch it up so they weren’t always reading the same 2 kids’ books all the time. They wanted Drew to talk to both of them about what he was reading in freshman English class that Fall and so far it had worked very well. The two moms knew they were going to be in trouble when the 3 youngest were all in high school together though. Three English classes at the same time was a heavy load of reading for anyone.

While Sarah and Erin were trying to figure out whether or not they were going to be able to stay married or not, the rest of the friends all remained as neutral as possible. So far, so good. Nobody had chosen any sides or alienated anybody along the way. Nobody liked the stressful situation but they all tried to be supportive. Neither Erin nor Sarah had committed a horrible marriage sin so there was no real bad guy in the relationship. Everybody was hoping the couple would find a way to work it out. Ali and Ashlyn would come to find out later that Erin had been hoping to join them for Thanksgiving while Sarah took Daphne with her down to visit her family on Martha’s Vineyard that year.

Another complication for the Kriegers’ Thanksgiving was the kids’ schedules. Drew was performing with the high school marching band in the Thanksgiving Day parade first thing Thursday morning. Josie had scheduled two private lessons for Friday and Saturday, one for flute and one for piano, as she started preparing for the annual Massachusetts Music Educators’ Association (MMEA) Northeast District competition. Everybody called it ‘Districts’ and there were two levels, Senior for grades 9-12, and Junior for grades 7-9. This was the first year Josie was eligible to try out and she had been chomping at the bit all Fall semester. Auditions were in January for the Junior level participants and Josie, as always, wanted to get a head start on song selection, which, everybody knew, could make or break your audition no matter how talented you were.

Dodge’s football team had done well enough to advance in the state tournament but hadn’t made it past the quarterfinals earlier that month. But his team was one of the two selected to play an abbreviated scrimmage during halftime of the high school game Thanksgiving morning. There was no way he was missing it, not even for a trip to sunny Southern California to cheer on his biggest sister. Only Lily didn’t have some kind of obligation on Thanksgiving and her moms were too grateful to wonder whether or not they should be worried about that fact or not. 

“Ok, so we’re staying home. Meg’s good with that” Ali nodded mostly to herself as she discussed their holiday plans with her wife the Monday of Thanksgiving week. 

They had just gotten home from doing much of the final setup for the First Thanksgiving at the elementary school and were tired, cold, and a little cranky. It was 9:00pm and the pizza they had all gone in on for dinner had left them both hungry too. 

“One of us will do the parade with Drew and the other will do the football game with Dodge. The girls will just have to pick which one they want to join in on” the brunette rubbed her temples as she sat at the two-person table in the kitchen with a glass of red wine and a note pad in front of her. She clicked the pen in her hand with her thumb, in and out, over and over again, without even realizing she was doing it. She was focused on the calendar app in her phone and the notes on the pad of paper. “I’ll get up early and get the turkey in the oven before we leave...then we’ll probably have to have something quick for lunch on the way home from the parade and football because we won’t be ready to eat turkey dinner until about 2:00pm...”

As she worked on the hectic day’s plans and started to move to the rest of the weekend’s plans, Ali noticed her wife was pacing back and forth across the kitchen. Ashlyn moved rhythmically from the counter next to the fridge over to the stove and oven and then back again. She had her eyes focused on the floor a couple of feet in front of her and seemed oblivious to everything else, including the dogs who stood close by wondering what she was up to, and her wife. For some reason this irked Ali to no end.

“Are you even listening to me?!” she huffed out irritably.

“What?” Ashlyn stopped pacing for a few seconds and faced her frustrated wife. “Yes, I’m hearing everything you’re saying” she nodded but her face still looked...anxious. “Parade and football game in the morning. Quick lunch on the way home. Turkey dinner at 2:00pm. Sounds awesome” she smiled but it was obvious she was distracted by something else.

“What is going on Ash?” the brunette folded her arms across her chest and prepared ride into battle. She wasn’t sure what was up but she knew her wife was about to drop some kind of bombshell on her. It wasn’t clear yet whether Ali would be riding alongside her anxious wife or against her though. 

This was when the keeper typically mentioned that she had invited 6 extra people for Thanksgiving but had forgotten to bring it up before now. This Thanksgiving was stressful enough. Ali wasn’t sure she could handle one of the blonde’s surprises, especially not right at that moment in her current foul mood. Maybe after another glass of wine took the edge off. Maybe.

“Ummm...nothing, not really, not yet anyway...” Ashlyn stammered and found it hard to look her wife in the eye.

“But there’s something” Ali nodded, her face grim with anticipated extra work and further schedule juggling.

“Yeah, maybe...kind of...” the keeper grabbed the back of her neck with one hand and stuffed her other hand deep into the pocket of her jeans. She slowly lifted her eyes, regretting the brave move as soon as she saw how close Ali was to losing her temper.

“Well tell me what it is” the brunette snapped, all out of patience. “I’m not gonna just guess it on my own, am I?”

Ashlyn straightened up at the harsh sound in her wife’s voice, but she kept her hand on the back of her own neck as she met Ali’s angry gaze. The blonde lifted an eyebrow just slightly to challenge the snippy tone and was relieved when she saw her wife’s shoulders slump.

“I’m sorry. I’m tired and aggravated, it’s not you” Ali sighed and rubbed her temples again. “Please tell me what’s going on before I lose it again” she tried to smile but couldn’t quite pull it off.

Ashlyn saw the attempt and appreciated the effort. She knew there wasn’t going to be a better time so she dove in, not breathing until she had gotten the words out. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she spoke, hands still in her pocket and behind her neck and face tentative but hopeful.

“What do you think about taking the kids up to the VA hospital for Thanksgiving this year? In the afternoon, after the parade and the football game, I mean” she explained quickly, hoping to knock down some obvious roadblocks between she and her stressed wife on the subject at hand.

Two things immediately popped into Ali’s mind as she observed her wife standing before her. Holy shit was she surprised at the seemingly out of the blue request – for one. And – good lord my wife is adorable. Ashlyn could just have easily been Dodge asking politely for permission to go someplace or do something he wasn’t sure he should be, but bravely pushed on anyway. The only difference between the two was their eye color – Dodge’s clear, light blue eyes would never have quite the same effect on Ali as those mesmerizing hazel ones did. It was a known fact between the wives that the brunette had a real problem saying no to Lily sometimes, and it was all because she had her Mama’s eyes. Both Ali and Ashlyn prayed that their daughter never figured her secret advantage out. She was already persuasive enough without any extra tools at her disposal.

“You don’t even have to answer me now” Ashlyn rushed to add, afraid that the momentary delay in reply was a harbinger of a negative answer or, worse, a big fight looming. “Just...think about it” she rattled off, trying to placate the brunette’s assumed anger. “Think about it tomorrow, don’t even think about it tonight...”

“Ash, it’s ok...” Ali sighed again and leaned back. She let her body slide down into the hard, wooden kitchen chair a bit, put her pen down, and took a drink of wine before speaking again. 

Ashlyn stood there, rocking back and forth, left to right, studying her wife’s face and trying to remember the persuasive argument she had been running over and over in her head for the past day. Ali could practically see the gears turning in her blonde head and felt her heart tug at the sweet keeper’s earnest attempt to talk about something hard even though she knew very well that Ali wasn’t in a good mood.

“How long have you been cooking this up?” the brunette finally asked. 

Her voice was surprisingly even and controlled. Ashlyn’s hopes surged.

“Umm, well since Sunday, yesterday, when Meg told us to stay home instead of going to California” she explained, still talking quickly but starting to relax a bit more. She let her hand drop from her neck and used it to accompany her words, moving it towards her wife, palm up, in supplication, and then back to her own stomach for a second, and then out to her side for emphasis on which general direction California was. “I’ve wanted to do it for a while, but I knew we wouldn’t want to change Thanksgiving plans on everybody...”

“But once Meg told us not to come...”

“The plans had already been changed” the keeper added with excitement, trying to show how the plan had really fallen into their laps without her having to do anything to make it happen. “So everybody already had someplace else to go and we wouldn’t be leaving anybody in the lurch...”

Ali sighed heavily and it was hard to tell if it was just exhaustion or if it was frustration.

“It’s ok” the keeper dropped her eyes and let her own sad sigh out. “I know it’s a lot to ask. We don’t have to.”

“No, babe, wait...” Ali sat up straighter. “Let’s talk about it. Don’t just give up now. You’re right. We can kind of do whatever we want this year...”

“What? Really?” Ashlyn’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline and her jaw dropped open. But two seconds later, her voice was soft and serious. “Don’t mess with me Al, this is really important to me...”

“I know it is and I’m not messing with you” Ali cocked her head and gave her wife a soft, reassuring smile. “It’s definitely a curveball, but what about this week hasn’t been?” she chuckled and then sighed again.

“You keep doing that...”

“Doing what?” the brunette furrowed her brow, confused.

“You keep doing these big sighs, and I feel like you’re saying one thing but it’s not really how you feel about it” Ashlyn tried to explain, carefully. She did not want to poke the bear here. She knew her wife was tired and cranky and it wouldn’t take much to make her lose her temper.

“I’m just tired. My body and my brain are both tired” Ali sighed again and closed her eyes for a few seconds. “That’s all, I promise.”

“You’re sure?”

“Ashlyn...” she cautioned, but it was light and soft.

“Ok, ok, well, let’s talk about it tomorrow then. We’ll have all day in the woods together” she wagged her eyebrows playfully and was rewarded with a tired but sincere smile from her beautiful brunette. “We don’t have to decide anything tonight. Let’s go to bed.”

“Can we go to sleep now? Really?”

The look of relief on Ali’s face melted her keeper’s heart. They had been in critical mode for the past 3 days for the First Thanksgiving event the next morning, and their day together in the woods wasn’t going to be easy or short, by any means. Ashlyn had done a lot of the heavy lifting for the Krieger family participation, but Ali had done more than her fair share too. As always. And all of the family scheduling always fell to the brunette – and both wives liked it that way. But still, it could be a heavy burden to bear, especially during jampacked Fall holiday season. Ashlyn quickly ran through a short list of things she still had to do that night for Lily and Dodge’s costumes but they were simple things that wouldn’t take too much time to complete in the morning. She had been trying to cross them off the list that night so the morning would be as easy as possible, but she knew Ali would be faster about adjusting the chin strap on Lily’s bonnet anyway. 

“Yeah, really” Ashlyn blinked sweetly at her wife. “I’ll do the dogs. Go on up honey. I’ll be right there.”

When Ali finally snuggled into the blonde’s side 20 minutes later she leaned up to give Ashlyn’s chin a quick kiss and was surprised to find the keeper’s lips instead. Ashlyn gave her a long, slow kiss, holding the brunette tightly against her left side with her left arm and reaching over and gently rubbing her wife’s shoulder and side with her right hand.

“Thank you for giving my idea a chance. I know this is a crazy week.”

“Honey” Ali frowned tenderly. “Your ideas always have a chance with me” she kissed the keeper’s lips softly. “And Thanksgiving is for us, just as much as it is for the rest of the family and our friends. Our family gets to do our own thing too you know.”

“I love our big Thanksgivings though” Ashlyn admitted with a small grin. “I really do.”

“I know you do babe.”

“But maybe this year, just this one time, maybe we do something different.”

//

And that is how the Krieger minivan, full of 6 Kriegers and two dogs, made its way North to Manchester, NH for Thanksgiving afternoon that year. The 90-minute drive North West from Gloucester, MA to Manchester, NH took longer than it should have because of holiday traffic, but Ashlyn parked the minivan at the Manchester VA Medical Center at 1:55pm, happy to arrive just under her own personal deadline of 2pm. The kids were an odd mix that day. Drew was sullen, as was becoming a more common condition for the 14-year old high school freshman. He sat quietly in the middle minivan bucket seat behind Ashlyn, his spot, with headphones on as he stared out the window watching the barren scenery pass by. The only hopeful thing about his presence during the drive was that he was listening to another episode of the podcast Ashlyn had recommended to him about the history of the US military as described and related to the podcast host by soldiers themselves.

Josie and Lily, sitting in the back row seats of the minivan, were excited and a little spastic about the strange, new Thanksgiving Day adventure their family was embarking on. Ali nodded at her wife, silently imploring her to grant the girls’ request to watch one of Josie’s tween movies for the hundredth time. She was hoping the familiar routine would settle the girls down before getting to their destination. There was a chance that Ashlyn would want to talk to the kids about what to expect at the VA center that day again. After a long moment’s consideration, the keeper acquiesced and Ali put the DVD into the console of the minivan, making sure the picture displayed clearly on the screen mounted to the ceiling of the minivan, just behind the front seats. The brunette reminded both girls not to blare the volume in their headphones too much and tried to remember if there was anything too mature for Lily to see in the movie.

Dodge was calmer than usual but that was primarily because he had gotten a lot of his extra energy out of his system during his abbreviated football game that morning. He had played well, making an impressive leaping catch that got the attention of most of the crowd, even the people standing in line for the bathrooms and concessions. He sat in the other middle row bucket seat behind Ali’s passenger seat and chose not to watch the tween movie on the screen above him. Instead, he asked his mothers a million questions about a thousand different things during the entire drive. 

Frankie had curled up on the seat between Josie and Lily at the back of the minivan and Logan was relaxing on the floor between Dodge and Drew’s seats, comfortably laying on one of her easier to transport dog beds. Ashlyn and Ali, meanwhile, played Arlo Guthrie’s Thanksgiving Day classic ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ through the speakers in the minivan, continuing a tradition that Ali had started years ago on one of their drives up to Ken’s house for the holiday. The kids had been listening to the nearly 20-minute song all their lives but they never really understood any of it until last year. 13-year old Drew finally began to understand what it all meant and Ali had caught him grinning along to some parts of it that he truly found amusing. It had been one of her favorite memories of the whole holiday season last year. 

“Why are we bringing our turkey dinner if the hospital has their own?” Dodge asked early on in the trip.

“Because we’re going to get there too late for their Thanksgiving dinner, lunch, meal...” Ashlyn stumbled over what meal name to assign to the holiday dining experience that could be both lunch and dinner depending on what time it was served in each household across the country. 

“We’re going to eat with Mama’s cousin...” Ali tried to explain again, for the fourth time already since they had come home from the football game and parade a couple hours earlier.

“Oh yeah, Jemima” Dodge laughed, pausing the handheld video game in his lap that he was playing with the sound turned off.

When Ashlyn had started talking to the kids about her cousin Jeremiah back in April, Lily had struggled with the pronunciation of his name. ‘Jeremiah’ had become ‘Jemima’ pretty quickly and Dodge had always found it funny. 

“Yeah, laugh it up dude” Ashlyn gave him a quick but surprisingly stern look over her shoulder. “You’re the one who’s gonna look like an idiot when you call him the wrong name, not me.”

Ali thought about telling Ashlyn to calm down about the issue, it was a pretty funny name change that had come about completely organically 7 months ago after all, but then she realized that her wife was just nervous. The keeper was anxious about introducing Jeremiah to her family and that tension was translating as bitchiness towards the kids. Ashlyn was taking it out on the other drivers on the road too. She was hypercritical of every other vehicle in their path and let more than a few curse-words fly during the drive. Dodge giggled every single time.

“Why did we have to wear our snow clothes again?” the inquisitive 10-year old asked a little farther along their journey North.

“Because we’re probably going to eat outside, on one of the picnic tables” Ali repeated another point that had been widely discussed more than once. None of the kids had been happy to pull on their long underwear, their snow clothes, beneath their regular clothes before getting into the minivan back at the big old house. But Ashlyn and Ali had agreed that they should prepare to sit and eat outside because it was probably going to happen. “And it’s cold out so we need to dress warmly.”

“But how come? They have all those tables inside, in the big room” Dodge reminded his moms again.

“Because Jeremiah likes to be outside, and we want to make him as comfortable as possible” the brunette answered evenly.

“But inside is so much more comfortable” Dodge countered logically. “Does he do everything outside? What about peeing and pooping? Does he even go to the bathroom?”

“That’s enough now Dodger” Ali’s voice got serious but was still kind. “He’s sick. His brain is sick and he’s doing the best he can. That means he feels better outdoors, but it doesn’t mean he’s not a person just like you and me.”

“And his brain got sick because he was in the army fighting to keep the rest of us safe” Ashlyn’s voice shook with emotion as she stared straight ahead at the road in front of her. “You know all about the veterans up there Dodge. Jeremiah is just like the rest of them. He got injured protecting us and our country and we should all be thankful that he was brave enough to do that for us in the first place. We need to help him, and them, get better and heal those injuries now that they’re out of the military. It’s the least we can do.”

Ashlyn had first met Jeremiah at the end of March and then visited him several times over the next month or so as they started to get to know each other. It was difficult to coordinate visits with him because she had no way of getting in touch with him. She tried to solidify their next meeting before the current visit ended. That was the best way to ensure that he would be there the next time she made the drive up, but even that didn’t always work. If Jeremiah went on a bender and lost track of a couple of days, he missed the scheduled visit despite all of his best intentions. Ashlyn met her cousin every week through April and May and most of June. Once the Academy started up it was easier for the keeper to work a visit in to her weekly schedule because she was already in NH. Granted, the Academy in Greenville, NH was still almost an hour West of the VA center in Manchester, NH, but Ashlyn’s schedule was more flexible when she was working at the Academy. The Thursday afternoon ‘end of the session’ barbecue picnics were still a high point for all of the coaches who worked a particular week, but the Krieger kids didn’t clamor to go up for it anymore if they weren’t already attending the camp. 

Ashlyn found it easier to drive to Manchester, NH on her way back up to the Academy after one of her nights at home during each session. She would get up extra early Tuesday morning or Thursday morning and drive to the VA center before heading to camp again. Sometimes Jeremiah wasn’t around that early in the morning though and that was problematic. But they both kept at it, both making the effort to get together and talk as often as possible. By the time she returned to the Academy in August, after the EUROs trip to Switzerland, Ashlyn noticed that Jeremiah never missed a morning meeting with her again. This Fall season had been the most difficult for the keeper’s schedule, but she made a conscious decision and cut back some of her workload at the MHI and Knight-Harris when her family life made it impossible for her to make it up to the VA center once a week. Ali was as supportive as ever, knowing full well that her wife was going to spend time with Jeremiah no matter what. The brunette was committed to helping make it easier whenever she could.

Ashlyn had also kept up her 4-6 times a year bigger visits to the VA hospital to visit and encourage all of the other patients and veterans. She still brought Logan and one of the kids for a prescribed, prescheduled Sunday visit – spending 3-4 hours talking to anybody that wanted some of her time and playing games, both indoor and outdoor when the weather allowed, with all-comers. It had been a challenge for Ashlyn to be selfish with her time each week as she worked with Jeremiah exclusively. It felt wrong at first, but she knew she had to focus on her cousin if she had any chance of helping him. She was careful to keep Jeremiah away from whichever kid had accompanied her on the bigger visits. Josie had gone with her in June and Lily in September and he had kept his distance as requested. Ashlyn was honest with him about it and explained that she wanted to get to know him better herself first. He said he understood and respected her decision and she believed him. The keeper knew she wanted her kids to get to know Jeremiah, but she had to be sure that he wasn’t any danger to them first.

Ali had insisted on meeting him before agreeing with Ashlyn’s long-term plan of integrating him into future family holidays. She had gone with her wife in July during one of the weeks both women had coached at the Academy. The meeting had gone well. Jeremiah had earned bonus points for bringing the brunette the sorriest looking little bouquet of flowers either woman had ever seen. The proud look on his face when he handed them to Ali made them both overlook the pathetic state of the flowers though. Ali had liked him instantly and she couldn’t tell you why, other than it wasn’t because he had given her flowers. There had been something about the way he carried himself and presented himself to those whom he chose to interact with. There was a graciousness to him, a kind of a humble elegance in his mannerisms. Ali thought of stories that Tammye had told her about her own mother, Grandma Lilian, and her strict manners and comportment. Jeremiah, at 64 years old, was only 6 years younger than Tammye, even though he was Ashlyn’s contemporary in terms of generations. His mother, Elizabeth Mariah, had been born in 1947 whereas Tammye, Ashlyn’s mother, hadn’t been born until 1963. 

“I finally figured out who he reminds me of” Ali told her wife back in late August when they were both back from Switzerland and she had taken the time to really think about it after meeting Jeremiah in July.

“Well don’t keep me in suspense woman, spill it” Ashlyn prompted with a chuckle as she peered up at the brunette through the verdant tomato leaves of their booming garden at the end of August. “But don’t spill these” she winked as she transferred two handfuls of ripe, red beefsteak tomatoes into Ali’s t-shirt which the brunette stretched out at the bottom and held out and open like a basket to receive the bounty.

“Do you remember ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’? The movie with...”

“Towanda!!” Ashlyn yelled loudly, without skipping a beat, and jumped to her feet with her arms spread out wide as she bellowed.

The keeper’s shout echoed through the backyard and made all the birds take flight and the insects go silent. Ali was sure any neighbors that were home that lazy Friday afternoon were glued to their windows, wondering what the hell was going on over at the big old house.

“That’s the one” Ali giggled at her wife’s antics and thanked God in heaven for the love of her life.

“You ol’ bee charmer” Ashlyn sidled up to the brunette, using her best southern drawl and stealing a kiss while Ali tried not to drop the fat juicy tomatoes at her stomach.

“You’re the bee charmer” Ali blinked back at the blonde who was gorgeous and slightly sweaty from an hour spent working in the garden that hot afternoon. “You fool.”

“Oh, right” Ashlyn laughed and then grabbed a quick squeeze of her favorite ass in the world before Ali could protest. “My mistake” she wagged her eyebrows and got back to work on the last tomato plant, squatting down again. “What about it?”

It took Ali a few seconds to recover from the outburst and the charm and the grab and the sweaty wife and she had to do it without dropping any tomatoes either.

“That’s where Jeremiah’s from...the guy he reminds me of I mean...”

“Who? Which character?”

“Smokey...”

“Who? I don’t remember their names, except for Idgie and Ruth.”

Ashlyn, a true southerner from Florida for God’s sake, had never seen ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ before Ali made her watch it during their honeymoon phase when they had first gotten together. It had always been one of the brunette’s favorite movies, although she preferred the less obtuse depiction of the main characters relationship in the novel itself.

“Smokey...the drunk who was in love with Ruth.”

“Oh yeah” Ashlyn nodded as she considered it. “I totally see that now. Definitely. He’s tall and skinny and a drunk...”

“No, I mean yes, obviously” Ali tried to explain her reasoning. “But it’s more than that physical stuff. The way Smokey kind of worships Ruth and just tries to be his very best self for her, even though he’s an alcoholic and falls apart without a bottle every night.”

“Ok...”

“Maybe you can’t see it, but that’s how Jeremiah is with you, at least the time I met him anyway.”

“You’re saying my cousin is in love with me? Ummm...gross hon” the keeper made an eeek face up at her wife.

“No, Smokey was in love with Ruth. I’m not saying Jeremiah is in love with you. God” Ali shook her head at the thought. “But the way he’s almost genteel with his manners and the way he tries to look his best when he meets you.”

“How do you know he tries to look his best?” Ashlyn stuck her head out into the garden row, intrigued, to get a better look at her wife. “How could you possibly know that?”

“I don’t know” Ali shrugged and tried to explain what she had witnessed when she had watched the man’s behavior during their meeting back in July. “He took his hat off as soon as he saw you. He kept trying to smooth out the wrinkles in his pants. They were pretty dirty and he couldn’t do anything about that in the moment, but he tried like hell to get rid of those wrinkles. And he made sure his shirt was still tucked in, even though it was really hot that day, remember?”

“Huh” Ashlyn returned to the tomato plant as she thought about it.

“He’s so polite and uses his best manners. He’s almost like a butler. I mean, imagine him in a tuxedo answering the door...”

“That’s terrible” Ashlyn laughed and shook her head at her wife.

“No, I don’t mean it in a bad way, you big jerk” the brunette poked her wife’s thigh with her toe. “I’m just trying to describe how he carries himself, his whole demeanor.”

Ashlyn thought for a moment about all of her visits with her cousin and Jeremiah definitely did all of those things every time. She was pretty sure he even smelled good most times, somehow managing to spruce himself up with cologne or maybe aftershave or something from Lord knows where. He was trying his hardest to make himself as presentable as possible for his new cousin.

“Oh, ok, I see what you’re saying” the keeper nodded. “Yeah, I get it. Smokey huh...I definitely see it.”

That Thanksgiving afternoon, after going inside to use the bathroom and greeting Grace Lightfoot the receptionist, and other staff and patients who Ashlyn had become close with that year, the Kriegers stood in the lobby waiting for cousin Jeremiah. Ashlyn had developed a method of contact for him and it wasn’t all that complicated. She called the VA center and talked with Grace and then the remarkable old lady would make sure to get the message to Jeremiah, either herself or with the assistance of one of the other patients Jeremiah was friendly with.

“Here he is” Grace spoke quietly and grinned when the tall, thin man finally made his way into the parking lot on foot, as usual. “Would you look at that” she beamed.

“He’s all dressed up” Drew noted with a slight look of shock on his face.

“And he has flowers” Josie added.

“What did you do Grace?” Ashlyn turned to face the woman who reminded her so much of her beloved Gram.

“Oh, I didn’t do anything” she shrugged. “But some of the folks around here might have spread the word that they were looking for a used suit. A tall, used suit” she chuckled.

Jeremiah wore a thin, grey suit that was too big for him and that hung loosely from his 6’2” frame and scrawny shoulders, complete with an orange striped tie and a button up shirt that was neatly tucked into his suit pants. The pants had to be held up by a black belt that looked like it was about to fall apart at any minute. He wore his winter Bruins knit hat but the hair that hung down below it looked clean and combed. There was a tiny white piece of toilet paper stuck to his throat where he had obviously cut himself while shaving. He kept his droopy mustache though, mostly grey with some brown still visible, but the rest of his face and neck was beard-free.

Ashlyn was deeply touched but the warm, loving feeling was fleeting. Her anxious mind reeled with possible scenarios for their visit. She had already gone over most of them several times that week, but now there were some new ones. Like, would he be too cold sitting outside in his new used suit? Would that make him less comfortable outside and possibly shorten the length of their time together? As her thoughts continued to swirl around in her head, they all watched Jeremiah pull the Bruins knit hat off of his head and smooth down his wispy greying brown hair as he turned to face the front entrance from his place in the parking lot.

“That’s the same place he stood last time” Drew looked up at his Mama for some kind of explanation.

“Get out there babe” Ali encouraged softly, her hand on her wife’s back, gently nudging her. “Let’s not keep him waiting” she smiled when Ashlyn turned and gave her an excited grin back.

“Can I come too?” Dodge asked.

“No bud, you guys wait here for a few minutes first. Let me find out what he wants to do. Then we can all meet each other, ok?”

Ali, Grace, and the kids watched Ashlyn walk up to the strange man and give him a gentle hug. That was certainly new since July, the brunette noted proudly. What couldn’t that wife of hers do? She could probably tame wild horses if given enough time and space. After a few minutes, Ashlyn turned back to the front entrance and pointed to the side of the building with a thumbs up.

“Ok guys, we’re gonna eat at the picnic table next to where we parked” Ali explained. “I need you to help me bring the cooler in so we can heat up the food. Lily, you’re in charge of the dogs. Let’s go.”

It took about 20 minutes or so of unpacking the food, making plates for all 8 of them – Ashlyn had asked Grace to join them – and then heating them up in the microwave in the nearby staff breakroom. But they eventually all sat around one of the big picnic tables just to the side of the building and ate Thanksgiving dinner. Ashlyn would explain to her family later that Jeremiah was feeling overwhelmed at first and had asked to skip formal introductions before the meal. But once they were all seated amiably around the picnic table, complete with Jeremiah’s flowers as the centerpiece, the man joined them, sitting on one end with Ashlyn sitting next to him, but not too close. Grace sat across from him as another familiar face, and the keeper went around the table and introduced her family to her long-lost cousin.

Ali had encouraged all the kids to just be themselves, but to try not to be too loud or to make any big, sudden movements if they could help it. She was looking primarily at Dodge but Lily was the queen of the loud noises so she got an extra nod too. The brunette reminded them of when she had gotten her concussion almost four years earlier, and told them all to treat cousin Jeremiah the way they had treated her when her head had been injured. That seemed to click with all the kids and Ali breathed a small sigh of relief.

Ashlyn had shown Jeremiah pictures of her family before as well as pictures of their extended Dodge and Burnham families. She had brought up Grandma Lilian’s bible with the family tree pages and showed that to him too. He ran his long, crooked finger down each of the family tree pages, carefully scanning the words there. Ashlyn wasn’t sure if he could read or not and hadn’t wanted to ask him at the time. She knew from firsthand experience that sometimes the words looked funny and were impossible to read when you had a brain injury, even though you officially knew how to read. To be safe, she had read the names out loud, following along with her own finger during that visit back in May.

Ashlyn and Grace and Ali kept the conversation light while they ate, with the receptionist recounting the events from the VA center earlier in the day. She talked to Jeremiah directly as she referenced patients that she knew he also knew. He added a comment here or there but overall was pretty quiet and shy. He got up once, about halfway through, and walked off towards the parking lot to smoke a cigarette but came back more promptly than anybody expected.

Towards the end of the meal they were all getting chilly, even the long underwear-clad Krieger kids, and Grace suggested moving inside because it was starting to get dark. Jeremiah looked nervous but he swallowed hard and nodded his head as everybody got up and cleared their plates to the break room, one after the other. Ali’s heart clenched when she saw the old man go directly to the small sink and start to take off his suit jacket so he could wash the dishes.

“I’ve got these” Ali spoke clearly but carefully behind him, trying not to sneak up on him. “Please, it was so good of you to let us come up and have Thanksgiving with you. It means more than you can know” she smiled warmly at him but gave him his space instead of rubbing his arm or patting his back as she would have done with almost anybody else in the same situation. “Besides, I want to warm my hands up” she quipped quietly as he chuckled and moved aside so she could start the chore.

Grace and Ashlyn talked for a couple of minutes and then it was decided that the group would just stay right there in the staff break room for the rest of the visit. It was a closed in room, which wasn’t great for Jeremiah, but it was also a big enough room where they could spread out and still have enough distance so, they hoped, Jeremiah would feel comfortable. Grace would keep anybody else out of the room so they didn’t have to worry about more people coming in and taking up space. Ashlyn opened the couple of small awning windows on the side of the room and positioned a plastic chair next to them so at least Jeremiah could feel some of the outdoors. They used the dogs, particularly adorable puppy Frankie who was still just a year old, as kind of an ice breaker now that the food was gone. 

“We used to have Fred and Persey” Lily surprised all of her family by being the first to speak directly to cousin Jeremiah without any parental prompting. She was standing next to Logan, one arm around the dog’s broad shoulders in a stance that had been one of her favorites with big old Fred when she had been a little girl. “But now we have Logan and Frankie” she continued, looking from Logan to Frankie and then up at Jeremiah. “Fred was the only boy dog. All the rest are girls.”

“Oh” Jeremiah nodded and cleared his throat as he tried not to squirm too much in his chair as he adjusted to their new environment. “And which one is this?” he asked, pointing to the large, brindled Cane Corso.

“That’s Logan” Josie answered before her sister had a chance. “She’s the biggest dog we’ve ever had.”

The idle chat about how old the dogs were and how much they weighed and some things that Persey had been good at that none of the other dogs could do filled the room for the next several minutes. Ashlyn only had to remind the kids to keep their voices down once. Drew was the only one who didn’t say much, choosing to help Ali with the dishes after the first couple of minutes. But nobody was offended by the move. The room was small enough where Ali and Drew could both hear everything that was said while they washed and then dried the plates and silverware they had borrowed from the VA center for their meal.

“Were you in the army?” Dodge asked after a momentary lapse in the dog conversation. “My moms said you were in the army and um...I just wanted to know if you really were” he shrugged as he seemed to get lost in his question, forgetting where he was really heading with it.

“Dodger...” Ashlyn quietly admonished him with a look that told him he wasn’t in trouble but that he shouldn’t have asked that question.

“Is there anything you want to know about us?” Ali asked from her place at the sink, turning around to face the man and catching the grateful look in his eye for the change of subject.

“Oh, um...well yes” he cleared his throat again, making both Ali and Ashlyn acutely aware of how rarely he must use his voice on any given day in his solitary lifestyle. “Are you all going to be big soccer stars like your mother here” he nodded deferentially at Ashlyn and smiled. “She’s a big deal around here you know” his gap-toothed grin got even bigger, revealing just how little dental care had been provided in recent years. 

“She got a whole sports complex named after her this summer” Josie offered, proudly.

“Yeah, and she’s on tv too!” Dodge added.

“And she won the helper award...what was it called?” Lily eagerly joined in but couldn’t find the right words to describe the parent volunteer unsung hero award for the First Thanksgiving event they had just participated in two days earlier. She turned to look at Ali who was still at the sink drying dishes after urging Drew to rejoin the rest of the family. “Mom, what was it called?”

“The parent hero award” Ali chuckled. “But let’s remember that she also washes your dirty clothes and picks up the dog poop in the backyard too” she cautioned with a playful quirk of her eyebrow. “If we keep talking about how awesome she is her head’ll get so big it won’t fit through the door at home!”

Everybody laughed, including Ashlyn and Jeremiah.

“Ok, ok” the keeper chuckled as the joke died down. “Thanks hon” she gave her wife a wounded but lighthearted pout before addressing Jeremiah again. “The truth is, they’re all good soccer players. Ali played division 1 ball in college too so they come by it honestly, on both sides. Their big sister Meg is competing in the College Cup right now with Boston College.”

“Meg’s game is on now?” Drew asked with concern in his voice. “Are we missing her game?”

“No, Mama just means the tournament is happening now” Ali put the kids at ease. “Meg’s game is tomorrow night. We’re not gonna miss it, trust me.”

They spent another chunk of time talking about BC’s chances of winning the College Cup and Meg’s important role on the team. The conversation started to die down again and it was obvious that Jeremiah was getting a little antsy, even from his seat next to the open window where the cold November air blew freely into the room.

“So, were you in the army? I really wanna know” Dodge asked again, risking his Mama’s ire for the sake of indulging his long-time enthusiasm for the military, which had shifted slightly to the police force.

“Dodge” both Ali and Ashlyn said firmly, and in unison.

“What?” he shrunk back in his chair a bit and blushed red at the rebuke. “Why won’t he tell us?”

“Excuse me for a few minutes” Jeremiah said quietly and left the room. 

Ashlyn heard the side door to the building open and close a few seconds later, knowing her cousin had gone outdoors and might not come back.

“What did we tell you?” Ali moved across the room to put her hand on Dodge’s shoulder so she could get and hold his attention. “The one rule that was the most important rule of all?”

“Don’t talk about the military. At all” Ashlyn answered her wife’s rhetorical question, turning a furious face towards their youngest son. “What is wrong with you?”

None of the kids moved a muscle. Frankie paced anxiously and whined softly at the tension and loud voices that had filled the room. Logan got up out of her reclining position and sat at attention trying to figure out what to do next. 

“Ash...” Ali caught her wife’s eye and gave her a cautionary nod, trying to quell her anger. 

The keeper took a full minute to get her temper in check. She wasn’t just angry at Dodge, she was afraid for the reaction the question probably caused in Jeremiah. She wanted so desperately for this first meeting to go well, and she and her family may have just messed it all up, just like that.

“Listen dude” she squatted down in front of Dodge in his chair, resting her hands on his thighs. His eyes were big and red and tears were about to fall down his cheeks. “I’m sorry I yelled. But you know better. The first time you asked him that question I gave you a look, didn’t I?”

“Ah-huh” he nodded miserably. The only thing worse than getting yelled at like that was to have it happen in front of all of his siblings too.

“And you did it again and that’s why I’m angry” Ashlyn continued, still looking her son right in the eye. She sighed again and her face softened as Dodge’s big blue eyes blinked back at her expectantly. “Don’t ask him again, if he even comes back in here. Do you understand me?”

“Ah-huh” he nodded again and wiped a tear away from his cheek with the back of his hand.

“Come here” Ashlyn opened her arms and the boy got up and gave her a hug as she wrapped her long arms around him. “It’s ok. I know you didn’t mean to upset him.”

“But why does he get upset about it?” Josie asked as the tension in the room dissipated.

“We don’t know, exactly” Ali replied, knowing most of what her wife knew about Jeremiah’s assumed PTSD. “And it doesn’t matter why he gets upset. We just know he does get upset so we don’t talk about it” she paused to make sure she had everybody’s attention. “Everybody got it?”

All four kids answered affirmatively and Dodge got back to his normal unflappable self pretty quickly. 

“It’ll be ok babe” Ali gave her worried wife a hug. “He’ll come back. He’ll at least come say goodbye.”

“I hope so.”

But he didn’t come back for a long time. He was gone for over 30 minutes and the Kriegers were about to give up hope. They had all used the bathroom and Ashlyn had taken the dogs outside for a quick walk which she also used to try and find her absent cousin. Ali and Drew returned all the plates and silverware to the VA center kitchen and had just come back to the break room so they could all say goodbye to Grace together before piling back into the minivan for the drive home.

“Can we leave him a note?” Drew asked as they began to tidy up the space they had occupied for the past hour or so.

“That’s a great idea bud” Ashlyn smiled at her son. “Let me see if Grace has some paper...” she opened the door and was shocked to find Jeremiah standing there with 2 different books in his hands. A waft of leftover cigarette smoke came into the room as Ashlyn swung the door open in a rush. “Hi” she smiled at her cousin. “You came back” she stated stupidly and wanted to kick herself. “I mean, thank you for coming back. I’m sorry we upset you. We didn’t mean to...”

But Jeremiah only nodded at her as he walked by and placed the two books onto the round table in the middle of the room. He started talking and leafing through the first book until he found a picture he wanted to show them. He swallowed hard and cleared his throat, fighting his nerves and ancient, invisible wounds.

“I was in the 2nd Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division of the US Army. I was a gunner in an M1A1 Abrams tank” he stated without much emotion. He pointed at a picture of four young men in tan camouflage khaki uniforms standing in front of a tank in what looked like an endless desert.

All of the kids and both moms gathered around the table to look at the picture while Jeremiah kept talking in a steady voice, clearing his throat a few times here and there.

“We fought in Desert Storm in 1991, then we went back to Germany for a couple of years before the 2-70 got deactivated and we all shipped back to Fort Riley in Kansas” he opened the second book and pointed out a couple of pictures of Fort Riley. “The 2-70 got reactivated in...” he scrunched up his face, trying to remember the details that he normally did his best to forget, “...2002, no, no, that’s not right...2003 and then we deployed to Kuwait for what they called ‘peacekeeping’” he clenched his jaw but none of the kids noticed, only Ali and Ashlyn saw his discomfort at the notion. “Then we came back to Fort Riley for a couple of years before deploying back to the Middle East for the Iraq War in 2005. I stayed with the 2-70 until the end of 2007 when I was discharged. And that’s that” he shrugged.

“How old were you when you first joined the army?” Josie asked, blinking up at the tall man with the scratchy voice who now smelled like alcohol and cigarettes, although he didn’t reek of either.

Ashlyn had caught the scent of liquor on his breath when they had gotten close to him and the books on the table. She wasn’t alarmed though. She had learned over the past 8 months that her cousin did better with a little alcohol in him. He was a barely functioning alcoholic who couldn’t go more than a few hours without a drink. If he went longer than that his hands would shake and he would start to sweat and get dizzy. His body reacted to having no alcohol the way most people’s bodies did to being drunk. He got unsteady on his feet and had trouble thinking clearly or forming complete sentences. Ashlyn was sure he hadn’t had a drink since he had started his walk to the VA center around noontime that day. It was almost 5:30pm now and she realized that he hadn’t fled the room solely because of Dodge’s question. He needed a drink and must have gone to a bottle he had stashed nearby. The keeper thought again of her wife’s comparison of Jeremiah to Smokey Lonesome from ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’. Idgie would often give Smokey a small bottle of liquor, knowing he needed it to stay right with himself. Smokey didn’t get drunk very often, but he needed to have that alcohol in his system at all times. Jeremiah was the same way, Ashlyn was learning.

“I signed up in 1990 when I was 20 years old” the soft-spoken man answered the pretty little redhead’s question and gave her a small but empty smile.

“And how old were you when you got out?” Ali inquired.

“I was 38” he nodded.

“The 1st Armored Division...your brigade...” Drew started and stopped, trying hard to use the right words and not upset the man who had just been so open with them about his military career, “...it was, like, the biggest brigade in Desert Storm. You guys led the charge once the air attacks were done, right?”

Ashlyn and Ali exchanged a surprised look and it took the keeper a couple of minutes to figure out where their son had gotten his information. She made a mental note to tell her wife about the podcast she had recommended to Drew recently.

“We did. Yeah” Jeremiah nodded again. “We rolled in heavy as soon as the airstrikes were complete.”

“How many of you go inside the tank?” Dodge took advantage of the brief lull to ask his question, hoping he wouldn’t get in trouble again.

“It’s a 4-man crew for the Abrams, pretty much all the different variations of ‘em. You have your commander up here” he pointed at a bigger picture of a tank with two soldiers’ heads visible through two different hatches in the top of the armored vehicle. “He operates the machine gun and tells the driver where to go and the gunner, that was me, where to shoot. And this guy up here” he pointed to the uppermost hatch, just behind the commander’s hatch, “he’s the loader. He makes sure the guns up top have ammo. Probably the most important guy on the team.”

“The driver is important too though” Lily chuckled a little awkwardly. She didn’t really think it was funny but she was nervous because they were talking about the very thing that Dodge had just been yelled at for.

“Yeah, he sure is” Jeremiah nodded again as he leafed through a few more pages and found a photograph of part of the inside of the tank. “That’s where the driver sits. And see that guy right there” he pointed at a soldier in a small seat towards the middle of the tank but off to the right side and out of the way of the hatches above, “that’s where I sat. That’s the gunner and he’s the one that shoots the big gun, the cannon” he pointed at the large, long, slender, cannon at the very front of the tank.

“Did you like being in the army?” Dodge asked, leaning closer to the book to get a better look at the picture.

“No. No I did not.”

“Why not?” Dodge’s curious voice sounded again.

“That’s enough questions now guys” Ashlyn came to the rescue, putting her hand on Dodge’s shoulder and squeezing it just enough to let him know to be quiet.

Both Ali and Ashlyn were acutely aware of how difficult this little Q&A session was for Jeremiah. His body was tense, his jaw was clenched, his entire physical being had seized up. Ashlyn was amazed that he was able to speak in a voice that sounded wooden and stiff at worst. She didn’t know how he was getting air into his lungs to force the words to come out of his mouth.

“Why did you stay in it for so long if you didn’t like it?” Drew asked the question that haunted cousin Jeremiah every single day of his life.

“Well, that’s a real good question” he paused and his eye twitched twice. “And I don’t have a real good answer” he sucked in a breath. “It was my job and I guess I didn’t really know any better. It was what I knew how to do.”

Jeremiah cleared his throat again and Ali saw his eye twitch some more and he started to clench his fists at the end of his long arms as they hung down by his sides.

“Thank you for showing us these pictures” the brunette spoke quickly before any more questions could get asked. She put a hand on Josie’s shoulder and another on Lily’s and gently nudged them away from the table. “It was really nice of you to answer all of our questions Jeremiah. We know you don’t always like to talk about it, so thank you very much” she gave him the most appreciative, genuine smile in her arsenal. “Next time we come to visit we’ll bring some pictures to show you, would that be ok?”

“Yes ma’am” he smiled shyly as his body relaxed in an instant, as if he had been holding his breath and had just finally been allowed to release it. It was hard to tell if it was because of the announced end to the questions, or if it was a reaction to the brunette’s megawatt grin and sincere cinnamon eyes. Ashlyn was pretty sure she saw him blush, even though it was hard to tell with his ruddy cheeks. “I’d like that very much” he nodded again, looking over the faces that were still focused on his own. 

Everybody seemed relieved. The kids recognized a genuine smile when they saw one, and they were looking up at one on the old man’s face. The moms would explain things better to them on the drive home, but for now the kids could feel the tension lift up and leave the room, floating out the open windows and away from their strange family gathering. 

Jeremiah had never had a family before. He couldn’t remember the last time he had sat down with family, not counting Ashlyn’s visits this year. It had been difficult for him, and there were about 10 times he had talked himself out of meeting the Kriegers, and that was just this morning before he began his walk to the VA, but he was glad he had done it. He took another beat and smiled a little bigger. Jeremiah had no idea what would happen next or even if he would ever see the Kriegers again. But for that moment, for that day, he was as happy as he could remember being in a very very long time. 

“And thank you all for coming to spend your Thanksgiving with me. You made an old man very happy today.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's excited for the NWSL Championship game tomorrow?!!!  
> I sure am! Can't wait! I hope Chicago can figure out how to beat NC. I'm pretty sure 95% of the NWSL fanbase feels the same way. I'm kinda sad that they finally made it to the big game without Christen Press though, I have to admit. It's the only little sad part for me about it. She deserved better than the way they traded her, like she was the problem with the team. Please. Anyway, everybody's better now. Chicago made it over the hump (I'm not knocking Sam Kerr in any way, shape or form - I love her and she's freaking incredible.....but how many goals would Press have scored if she had Nagasato playing up top with her?), and Press found a team on the West Coast with top-notch facilities (and fancy robes, lol). So I'm happy for everybody. Now they just have to beat NC!!!


	39. Water Parks & Holiday Concerts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only 2 chapters left. Hope you like this one.

The weekend in College Station, Texas for the College Cup Final Four games and Championship game was good, despite the disappointment from BC’s loss in the semi-final Friday night. They all enjoyed their time together on Saturday especially. There were no obligations and nobody had to be anywhere at a certain time for anything. It was kind of heavenly if you asked Ali and Ashlyn. Meg had to attend a team meeting in the morning before they were all released for the weekend if they were staying with their families. The players who didn’t have family or friends with them flew back to Boston Saturday afternoon with some of the staff who weren’t staying either. Most of the coaches stayed to watch the Championship game Sunday at 1pm though.

The extended Krieger clan spent most of Saturday either mini-golfing together in the morning, competitively of course, or screaming their way down the waterslides at the water park in their hotel. Ashlyn & Ali’s children loved the water, every single one of them. Josie loved the indoor waterpark especially because it didn’t come with a painful side of sunburn and annoying sand in uncomfortable places. She loved the water but was not a fan of the beach. Drew and Lily loved the beach more than anything but they were very excited about the water park. Even big old high school freshman Drew splashed around and acted like a kid again. It was kind of a miracle. Dodge could go either way. He loved the water and was a good swimmer but he was still afraid of the ocean after nearly drowning once when he was younger. 

He had done what most kids do when they’re little and excited about the beach – he ran right into the ocean before Ashlyn could get his floaties on his arms and before either mom could catch him. He wasn’t in any real danger though because Ali got there and scooped him up after the first wave knocked him on his butt and tumbled him around in the surf for a few terrifying seconds. The brunette had a frightening flashback to lifting sweet little Meg up and out of the way of an oncoming wave at Good Harbor Beach the first summer she and Ashlyn were together. She tried to focus on that memory and some of the other fun ones they all created that day at the beach instead of getting embarrassed – still, after 17 summers had come and gone – about the sexy red string bikini she had worn that day. Ali knew it had been an attempt to stake her claim on Ashlyn while Hannah was there with Meg for the week. She understood it as she looked back on her questionable decision, she just didn’t like it. 

Meg and Gwen hung out with the Kriegers for much of the day but went shopping later in the afternoon with Hannah and her friends who had made the trip with the wealthy divorcee. Josie had begged to go with the two other redheads but Ashlyn had said no. She had a feeling that Hannah and Meg wanted some alone time or grown-up time – at least Hannah did for sure. Trying to get the 12-year old redhead to understand that hadn’t been easy. Josie sulked and pouted for almost an hour before the lure of the waterslide broke her resolve. It helped that both Ashlyn and Ali were the type of moms who rode the slides too. Even some of the grandparents climbed carefully up to the top of the lower slides and hooted and hollered on their way down into the landing pool. 

“I think Ken’s mad at me” Ashlyn shook her head as she sat down at the table on the other side of the pool where she, Tammye, Ali, and Josie had wrapped themselves up in towels long enough to eat dinner.

The original plan had been to go out for dinner but Hannah and her group had texted to say they were just going to eat while they were already out together. Then, when Ali and Deb had tried to get the kids to leave the water park and go up to the rooms to get changed for dinner, there had almost been a riot. Ali made a quick executive decision hoping her wife would agree that the rarity of seeing all four kids enjoying the same thing and playing together so well was worth giving in to their fairly simple demand. They wanted to stay in the water park and eat, still wet and in their bathing suits, from the burger and shake restaurant that was conveniently located poolside and accommodated guests who were both shoeless and not properly attired for anyplace other than a poolside joint. Ashlyn, of course, had been all in and the first in line to order her burger and shake.

“What?” Ali frowned as she took the cheeseburger and veggie burger off the tray her wife had just brought back with her and handed them out to Dodge and Lily with a warning. “Sit down now and eat. Just slow down for an hour and then you can go back in the pool.”

“Aw mom” they both whined, taking their seats at the next table over where Drew and Mike Harris were already eating.

“Why in the world do you think that?” Tammye asked her daughter with a suspecting frown. “What did you do?”

“He’s mad cuz you and Mom got married again and didn’t tell anybody” Josie shrugged as she slurped her milkshake up, never taking her lips away from the straw as she spoke or slurped.

“What?” both Ali and Ashlyn turned surprised faces to their daughter who just shrugged again. 

Tammye chuckled. “Oh right. That’s what you did.”

“Are you being serious right now?” the keeper pulled Josie’s milkshake away from her lips so she could clearly understand her answer.

“Why do you think that Jose?” Ali asked in a much more reasonable tone of voice.

“I heard him say that to Vivi and Papa” she shrugged again and shoved three big French fries into her mouth.

“He can’t be serious” Ashlyn turned a slightly pale face to her wife and mother. “It must have been a joke.”

“He didn’t laugh though” Josie mumbled around her mouthful of fries.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full” Ali admonished her with a shake of her head before turning to Lily who was standing next to her and tugging on her arm. “What is it Lil?” she asked, trying to keep the aggravation out of her voice. The brunette was hungry and hadn’t had a bite of her own food yet.

“Can I get the fish thingy instead?” she put her veggie burger, with one bite taken out of it, on the table between Ali and Josie. “I don’t like this.”

“I told you you wouldn’t like it” Ashlyn sighed in frustration at her fickle daughter and her challenging eating habits and dietary restrictions. The kid had always been difficult to feed and that was before she had become a mostly vegetarian almost a year ago. “Why don’t you ever listen?” she frowned as she put her own, barely-touhed, burger down. “Next time I tell you what to get, that’s what you’re gonna get.”

As always, Ali was stuck in the middle of the age-old battle between Ashlyn and her finicky kid eaters. Drew had gotten worlds better since Dr. Murphy had helped resolve his stomach issues. She had taught him how to cope with and even anticipate his anxiety so it didn’t impact him nearly as often. Even when he did let something bother him enough to upset his belly, it was much less serious now. But Lily and her diet were the bane of Ashlyn’s existence – at least at mealtimes and grocery shopping times. Ali understood where her wife was coming from and she found it just as infuriating to try and find something their daughter would eat. But the brunette was far more willing to try two or three more things than Ashlyn was. But Ali did her best to stay out of the fracas whenever it arose. She didn’t want to undermine Ashlyn in front of the kids but she also didn’t want the girl to starve either.

“I’ll take her” Ali stood up with a quick nod. “Let’s go Lil, come on.”

“You need the room key to charge it to the room” Ashlyn stood up and fished the card out of the back pocket of her board shorts. She gave her wife a small smile that was half apologetic and half grateful. “Thanks baby.”

“You’re too tough on her...” Tammye started to say but a sharp look from Ashlyn reminded her that Josie was sitting right there, listening to every word.

“Mama always gets mad at Lily for not eating. But Lily never eats so...” the redhead offered up honestly and with another shrug. She had said nothing but the truth.

They were quiet for a minute as the boisterous sounds of the pool and the slides and the kids everywhere around them filled the area. Tammye could tell that her daughter was really bothered by what Josie had told them about Ken.

“I don’t think he’s mad at you” Tammye said quietly. “I think he’s just...disappointed. I think we all were a little.”

Ashlyn jerked her head over in surprise. “What? You were all disappointed?” she asked, her voice just as quiet as her mother’s had been. “Why? Nobody was there but us. It was just for us” she shook her head in disbelief at what she was hearing.

“Oh sweetheart, don’t get upset now” Tammye tried to soothe her sensitive daughter. 

She knew that look in Ashlyn’s eyes – half outrage, half begging for forgiveness. The combination never went over well and the keeper usually ended up getting angry at everybody involved, including herself, until she stormed off somewhere and had time to think things through.

“Oh excuse me for being upset that my whole family is mad at me for surprising Ali with our vow renewal during our vacation” she huffed out but still kept her voice down.

“Mmmmm those fries look sooo yummy!” Deb giggled as she sat down next to Josie and stole two French fries from her tray. “Thank you little one.”

Deb was the only person that Josie let get away with calling her Little One anymore. The only one.

“What’s with the serious faces over here?” Carol asked with a playful grin as she pulled a chair up between Tammye and Ashlyn and stole her own pair of fries from her wife’s tray.

“Mama just found out that Grandpa is mad at her about the vow renewal” Josie explained matter-of-factly.

“Ok Jose, that’s enough. You go eat over with your brothers and Papa” Ashlyn instructed and pointed to the next table. “I need to talk to your grandmothers.”

“Aw Mama...”

“Just go. Now” the keeper left no room for argument but had the good grace to appreciate her daughter’s compliance. “Thank you honey.”

Deb stole one last French fry as Josie moved to the other table and then fixed her daughter-in-law with a serious look. She pointed the French fry at Ashlyn and spoke before eating it.

“You didn’t actually think that you could go do that and not ruffle some feathers, did you?”

“Well, yeah. I did.”

All three grandmothers clucked and sighed.

“Seriously?” Ashlyn’s eyes flashed with anger. “I can’t believe this right now. It’s bad enough that y’all are mad about it, but then to whisper about it for 4 months is just ridiculous.”

“Ummm...” Ali said as she and Lily stood next to the table. She pointed to the other table. “You go sit and eat baby girl.” The brunette took a deep breath and decided she wasn’t in the mood for whatever was going on. She looked at Deb and Carol. “You guys want burgers? I’ll be right back with them.”

The women gave her their orders and watched her hustle back to get the food.

“Mad? Who said we were mad?” Carol asked, having missed a few bits of the conversation. “I think we’re all happy for you girls. But I admit, I was sad I didn’t get to see it. I missed the first one too.”

“Ken has...feelings about it” Deb leaned forward and lowered her voice further. “But he’ll get over it. We’re all just being babies” she chuckled.

“I wasn’t mad at all” Tammye explained her point of view. “I thought it was a lovely surprise and it must have been so romantic. You did it just right honey” she smiled at her agitated daughter. “Doesn’t matter what any of us old coots think about it anyway.”

Ashlyn was quiet as she ate more of her dinner, thinking hard. She felt blindsided and had reacted quickly, probably overreacting a bit. She tried to put herself in Ken’s shoes. How would she have felt if one of her kids had done something so meaningful and important and kept it all to themselves? She honestly didn’t know the answer. She hoped she would have been like her own mother and accepted and respected and celebrated the surprise ceremony, but she really wasn’t sure. The keeper knew that at least part of her would feel cheated if she had been left out of Drew’s or Dodge’s or any of the kids’ vow renewal ceremonies. She remembered how upset Niki’s parents had gotten, her whole family really, when she and Molly had seriously considered eloping. They eventually got married in a traditional wedding ceremony with all the bells and whistles, in part, to appease both of their families. The keeper had never understood what the big deal was about that. Why did Niki’s parents freak out when she floated the idea of elopement past them? 

All Ashlyn could come up with, so far anyway, was that there was something about those rituals that we all knew about and participated in that felt vital within a family unit. We looked forward to wedding days all our lives when we were young, and now, as a not young person anymore, Ashlyn could already feel how important it was going to be to her to be involved in the rituals of adulthood that her own children were going to go through. They were sacred moments. Suddenly, with a bit more time to consider things, Ashlyn understood why Ken might have been upset.

“It’s like we uninvited you or something” she mused thoughtfully, pausing for a second to look up at the three older women. “We hurt your feelings by keeping it just the two of us” she thought harder as she sucked on her milkshake straw for a couple of seconds. “I think my feelings would be hurt if Meg ever did that to us” she nodded slowly. “I bet that’s what it is” she looked into the three sympathetic and slightly amused faces. “I bet Ken feels insulted...like we didn’t need or want him there.”

“Maybe it would have been nice to know about it, even if you didn’t want to have us there” Carol finally admitted after exchanging quick glances with both Deb and Tammye.

“Maybe” Tammye nodded in agreement but gave her daughter another warm smile.

“It would have been nice to know, for sure” Deb added with a sympathetic tilt of her head, “but part of keeping it a secret means not telling anybody” she chuckled. “We get that. Ken will too. I think his pride is just a little hurt. That’s all.”

Later that evening, during a quiet moment while the kids were all too involved in eating their ice cream to be paying much attention, Ashlyn followed her father-in-law back towards their group. Ken had just paid for all the ice cream and was on his way to sit with his freshly-bathed and pajama-clad brood in the old-timey ice cream parlor on the other side of the hotel lobby. Ashlyn, after waiting for him, touched his elbow and nodded toward a different booth, asking him to sit with her for a moment before they both rejoined the group.

“What is going on over there now?” Ali quietly asked her mother, nodding at her wife and father. The two women were enjoying their own ice cream desserts over near the kids. “Do I need to be worried?”

“Oh no, that’s just a good woman trying to make an old man feel less obsolete I think” Deb sighed thoughtfully, a wistful half-smile on her face. After another minute of contemplation she continued, patting her daughter’s knee after taking another lick of her soft-serve ice cream cone. The pat was more to comfort the mother than it was the daughter in that moment and Deb sighed. “It’s hard sometimes, getting old.”

//

School concerts, the Fall semester play, and all the requisite Christmas Holiday goings on filled up the rest of the month as 2033 sped to a close over the next three weeks. The trip to Texas had messed up the already hectic party schedule for Ashlyn and Ali that December but they had tried to plan ahead as much as had been possible. Hoping that BC would go far in the College Cup tournament that year, Ali, Whitney and Ashlyn had formulated a plan that they hoped might work. Ashlyn and Taylor Gervasio proactively moved the MHI Holiday Gala up to Friday, December 2nd, knowing that the Quarterfinal round of the tournament would be played in New Jersey which meant it would be easy for the Kriegers to get to the game, if necessary, and the party. That move enabled Ali to push the K-H Christmas party back to Friday, December 16th, after the tournament was over, so it wouldn’t be in any conflict at all. All the stars had aligned in the Krieger universe and tournament games as well as holiday parties were all attended by the busy family. It had been a Christmas miracle.

For the only time in their young lives, the Krieger kids were in three different schools that year. Drew was in high school, Josie in middle school, and the twins in elementary school. That meant three holiday concerts and two school plays and lots of shuttling from one big brick building to another before the month was over. It was a lot and both Ali and Ashlyn felt the pull on the family’s time, both immediate family and extended family. They were glad it would never happen again. It was just too damned hard. Next year Josie and the twins would all be in middle school together and the moms would go back to having only two schools to contend with for the next three years. After that, the three youngest would all be in high school together and they would be down to just one school. 

Drew played trumpet in the high school band’s winter concert and did quite well. His moms had both been afraid he would give it up now that it was harder and required more practice time. And the freshman’s academic and athletic schedules had gotten busier and more challenging as well. They knew the first thing to go would be his trumpet after already deciding not to join the high school chorus program. But Drew loved jazz music. It was one of the few interests he and Josie had in common, aside from the Krieger passion for all things soccer. Ashlyn chalked it up to the Miles Davis poster in her third-floor studio and Ali never disagreed. The boy had been fascinated by it for most of his life, even getting his own copy and putting it up in his bedroom. Something about it spoke to Drew in a way that he didn’t yet understand. His high school musical prospects took a major blow though when he tried out for and didn’t make the jazz band that Fall. He had been a member of the middle school jazz band for all three years there and had expected to continue that trend this year. It took some careful discussion with his parents to get him to stick with concert band in the wake of his disappointment. But he did stick with concert band. He was committed to it for his freshman year and had agreed to see it through.

It was always bittersweet watching the younger kids gawk at the high school students when they attended any of Drew’s activities whether it be games or concerts. On good days, Ali found it amusing and endearing the way they studied the teenagers’ mannerisms and body language and style of dress and hair with wide eyes and sometimes even open mouths. On bad days, she wanted to cover their eyes and ears to protect them from the future that was approaching much too fast for her liking. Josie was growing up faster than Drew had and the twins were growing up even faster than the redhead! They all saw what Drew and his friends and classmates were doing and what they were watching and talking about and listening to. The three younger siblings tried desperately to be like their big brother in every way possible. It was a challenge for Ashlyn and Ali to keep them back in their place in time, at their own speed. If their friends had older siblings too, it was even more difficult to keep them at their own pace. The two moms found themselves rejoicing when their younger kids talked about and spent time with friends who didn’t have that older sibling influence in their world. They wouldn’t admit it to any of the kids, but sometimes Ali and Ashlyn made decisions on who could do what with whom based on whether or not there were older siblings involved. It felt unfair sometimes, but they just didn’t want their kids to grow up too fast. There were things about 7th grade that they knew Josie needed to experience for her own good and that it wouldn’t happen if she was focused too intently on what the 9th graders were doing.

“Why is that kid’s hair like that?” Dodge asked, turning his nose up in what looked like disgust but Ashlyn knew was just curiosity and confusion.

“Which kid?” she asked from her seat next to her son in the noisy high school auditorium as they waited for Drew’s holiday concert to start that December. Josie and Lily were on the keeper’s other side with Ali on the far end of their group. “The one with the mohawk?”

“Yeah, that one” Dodge nodded and pointed.

“Don’t point dude” Ashlyn reached over and lowered his arm. 

“Is he gay?”

“I don’t know” Ashlyn shrugged after looking at the high school senior standing at the front of the auditorium, talking to a friend and being very high school senior-y. 

The high school senior who felt accomplished and mature and too cool for school. This kid looked more like a punk than a gay boy. More Billy Idol than Sam Smith for sure. But all Dodge saw was the short, fairly tame, rainbow-colored mohawk and was making his assumptions on that alone. Ashlyn watched her son focus on the punk kid and block everything else out around him. She heard Josie talking to Lily about him too.

“That’s Kellen Sanderson” she explained and pointed at the same mohawked high school senior in front of them.

“Don’t point” Ashlyn corrected her daughter the same way she had her son a minute before. “What is it with you guys? You know better than that.”

Josie continued, non-plussed by her mother’s arm pulling her own limb back to her lap. 

“He’s in both concert band AND jazz band. He plays the drums - rotos in marching band” she highlighted the coolest part of the pimply-faced kid’s resume. 

It made sense now to the keeper why she didn’t remember seeing anybody with a rainbow mohawk in marching band that Fall. He had been wearing the hat from the marching band uniform the last few times she had seen him.

“How do you know all of this Jose?”

“His sister Tara is in drama with me and he picks her up from rehearsal sometimes.”

Ashlyn bent over and relayed the information to Dodge whose face lit up to learn that Kellen Sanderson, and his rainbow mohawk, was a drummer, just like him. She could already envision the debate with her wife about whether or not Dodge would be allowed to get a rainbow mohawk. She knew they wouldn’t even consider it until at least high school so that gave them 3-1/2 years to strategize and decide before ultimately giving their permission. There was no way they could say no to it after telling the kids their whole lives to be who they were and that it was ok to be different. They had painted themselves into a corner, but what a beautiful, confident, supportive corner it was.

“Can I get a mohawk?” Dodge asked, without taking his eyes off his new idol, and without skipping a beat.

Ashlyn took a deep breath.

“Can I Mama?”

Josie was now listening too, both kids now focused on the keeper’s face, waiting for her answer.

“Probably not, but we’ll see” she replied, patting her son on his leg and giving him a sympathetic smile. “At least not until you’re older. But we’ll see.” 

Later that night the two moms talked about it as they got ready for bed, side by side at the double sink vanity in the master bathroom.

“You said the right thing honey” Ali tried to reassure her wife who was feeling conflicted about the issue.

“Yeah, well, I always knew ‘we’ll see’ really meant ‘no’ when I was a kid. I’m sure he does too” Ashlyn replied after spitting out the last rinse of her mouth and putting her toothbrush in its holder.

“But it doesn’t mean no” the brunette countered as she finished drying off her face and started putting toothpaste on her toothbrush. “It means we have to consider it. It’s the truth.”

“I guess” the keeper sighed, looking discouraged.

“Babe, let’s see if he even really wants to get a mohawk before you go beating yourself up over this” Ali reasoned, starting to brush her teeth. 

They couldn’t count the number of times one of the kids had presented them with a problem that had resolved itself before they could come to an agreement on how to handle the situation. Dodge, in particular, was quick to move on, often forgetting whatever the thing was he had asked for in the first place. But not always. He was 10-1/2 years old. He had a lot of things running through his brain on a daily basis and not all of them stuck.

“You didn’t see his face though” Ashlyn’s eyes were sad and full of worry as she watched her wife in the big mirror. “It was like seeing Captain Fulkerson - for the first time.”

It was Ali’s turn to give her wife a concerned frown. Dodge had been a couple months shy of 4 years old when he first met Officer Fulkerson, and it had changed his life. The young patrolman had paid a visit to the big old house to deal with worrisome backyard neighbor, Larry Woods, and his frivolous complaint about the downed tree that a Nor’easter had blown over from the Kriegers’ backyard into his shed. Dodge had been transfixed. From that day on his main, long-term goal in life was to become a police officer, just like now-Captain Fulkerson. The two moms had gauged Dodge’s level of interest and infatuation in a new subject or activity or person by using a scale system. The scale went from the low end of Jelly Donut all the way up to the highest point of Captain Fulkerson. If it was super high, maybe even higher than regular Captain Fulkerson, they described it as the first time he ever saw the officer. That supreme level had only been reached a couple of times before, and they both involved soccer. Once had been at the NE Revs stadium when the boy was 8 and had met some of the all-time greats of the MLS who were playing in the all-star game that year. The other time had been just this past summer when the Kriegers met all-world Spanish goalkeeper Diego Aldano at the Ashlyn Harris Sports Complex grand opening ceremony. 

Ali sighed heavily and finished brushing her teeth, speaking only when she was finished and turning to face her worried wife. 

“Well ok then. Let’s figure it out.”

After talking it over for 15 minutes they had come to agreement on how to handle their young son’s request. Ashlyn was surprisingly ok with the solution, even though it played into her biggest concern which was squashing the boy’s individuality and free spirit. An even bigger tenet of the Krieger family’s belief system had always been the team, being part of the team and beating a good teammate. They were using that and extrapolating it to the classroom and being a good classmate at school. Not surprisingly, the two moms had been very like-minded about the issue as they began to talk it through.

“So the answer is no, not right now during the school year” the blonde repeated their agreed upon response. “We don’t want his hair to be a distraction to the other kids at school. But he can do it when school’s out this summer” she nodded and looked so relieved that Ali giggled as she watched her face.

“Boom. You got it babe” the brunette leaned over from her side of the bed and kissed her wife’s lips, both of them smiling into it and feeling good about their decision. 

“Whew, I’m glad that’s done with” Ashlyn let out her own giggle and leaned back against the headboard. “I think it’s more than fair and I think he’s gonna love it” she grinned.

“And are you prepared to say yes to Lily when she wants to do the same thing?” Ali quirked her eyebrow at her wife and cocked her head.

Ashlyn hadn’t considered that and sucked in a breath. But she blew it out quickly, a serene and confident look on her face.

“Of course she can do the same thing with her hair, but she’ll never do it. That girl loves her hair too much” the keeper chuckled as she started to get under the covers to go to sleep. “She’s vain, just like her Mama” she playfully tossed her shaggy hair and winked at her wife who was watching her with amusement. “You’re welcome.”

Josie’s holiday concert was less entertaining overall because the middle schoolers weren’t as accomplished with their instruments as the high schoolers were. As a 7th grader, Josie was impressive. She was first chair flute in concert band, and she knocked everybody’s socks off on the piano in jazz band. The older she got, and the longer her fingers grew, the better she played. She truly loved to practice so her skill and technique increased constantly. Josie’s lovely alto singing voice was not what the chorus instructor expected. Based on nothing but her diminutive size, everyone thought the redhead’s vocal range would be in the upper soprano range. But it was not. Maybe people thought her voice would be high and soft like Ashlyn’s. But it was lower and deeper, like Ali’s. A highlight of the middle school holiday concert had been Josie and one of her classmates performing the alto and soprano duet to ‘I Wonder as I Wander’, accompanied only by the piano. Ashlyn and Ali sat in the audience trying to focus on how sweet and pure their daughter’s voice sounded instead of how critical she had been of the piano accompanist the day before. The truth was, Josie played the piano better at 12-1/2 years old than the woman in her 50s did and both moms knew it too.

The elementary school concert was another step down in the listenability category for the parents and other audience members who attended. The plus was that the kids were still so freaking cute at that age that the quality of the band and the chorus wasn’t nearly as important to anyone. Lily was much happier playing her flute and Dodge loved playing the drums and they both had a great time performing. Any hesitation Lily had left over from her old stutter disappeared when she played an instrument. She didn’t have to use words so she never had to worry about them failing her. She had also once told her private music teacher that she felt like she could hide behind the flute, even though it was so small. The idea had brought both relief and sadness to Ali and Ashlyn when the teacher relayed the story to them. They were glad their girl was feeling safe and confident while playing her instrument, but they hated that she felt the need to hide at all. They were sure Lily just needed more time to offset the years she had struggled so much with her words. Time made everything better, especially with the strong support that Lily had always had around her. Both moms hoped she would find her confidence before embarking on middle school next Fall, but there was no way to know for sure. Oddly enough, Lily never had a problem singing any of the words that had tripped her up when she was much younger. Both she and Dodge sang their hearts out, along with the rest of their classmates, and the whole auditorium rewarded them with resounding applause and cheers.

Some of Ali and Ashlyn’s proudest moments as parents took place during those school concerts as they watched one or the other of their kids perform well, have fun with their friends, and rise to the occasion. But some of their most anxious moments came at the same time too. Would Drew do ok in high school band as a freshman where everything was more challenging in every way? Would Josie say or do something diva-esque during a performance and embarrass the whole family? Would Dodge’s enthusiasm be so over the top that he pulled focus from the rest of the band or chorus and turned himself into a clown? Would Lily revert back to feeling her old paralyzing fear of stuttering in front of an audience?

The struggle of parenting was real and both moms had the battle-scarred hearts to prove it. Their hearts broke almost daily from one child or another learning another hard life lesson. But Ali and Ashlyn were always there for them, to comfort them through the hurt and guide them towards growth and understanding. It wasn’t easy but it was by far the most rewarding thing they had ever done in their lives. Watching their kids mature into real little people with their own personalities and hopes and dreams was like nothing they could have imagined back in 2019 when they were eagerly awaiting Drew’s arrival. Both moms knew that the next several years were going to be the most challenging yet because those four kids that they loved more than life itself were going to make life in the big old house a battlefield as they pushed boundaries and questioned every rule and decision that was made. 

The idea was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. Ashlyn and Ali felt like they were sitting in the front car of an enormous roller coaster that was almost at the very top of the initial climb. In just a few moments their car would crest the peak, hover between up and down for just a split second, and then drop hurtling down the other side of the tracks. It was going to be a fun ride but they knew it was gonna scare the shit out of them and make them nauseous too. But there was no getting off now. They were strapped in for the duration. They only hoped their hearts could take it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vlatko's new USWNT roster drops tomorrow! I'm excited and nervous!  
> I'm very glad they hired him - although his lack of experience coaching at the International level gives me pause. But from everything I've ever read about him, he seems like a great hire. He certainly has the support of the players. But that's not always the blessing that it seems. Remember the last time Ali and Ashlyn played for a coach that all the players loved so much? Yeah, Tom Sermanni was beloved, but not very effective in Orlando. I'm just sayin'...  
> But I'm hoping Vlatko will be wildly successful. I'm also hoping he doesn't completely blow up the roster before the Olympics like his predecessor did. That is not the way to go, in my opinion.


	40. Miami Loving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one chapter left after this one. I hope to post it this weekend.  
> Smut warning for the second half of this chapter.

The most painful casualty of the frenetic scheduling that December was the annual Nutcracker outing. For one of the few years that anybody could remember, the Kriegers didn’t make it to the show before it closed right after New Year’s. 

“I’m so sorry baby” Ashlyn frowned as the two wives sat together in the car service that was taking their family to Logan airport on Wednesday, December 28th. The keeper had held out hope that somehow, through some kind of Hermione Granger time twisting magic, they could make the Nutcracker happen before they flew to Miami to celebrate New Year’s with Deb. But it was clear to the blonde then, kids all packed up and loaded with them in the oversized vehicle, that there was now absolutely no chance of it happening. “I really wanted to make that work...”

“I know” Ali leaned into her wife’s shoulder and squeezed her hand where it was clasped together with one of her own on the brunette’s lap. “I’m sad we’ll miss it this year, but this is our life” she shrugged and gave her wife a soft but sincere smile. “If we’re raising soccer players, we’re gonna be busy this time of year, hopefully” she giggled. “We’d better get used to it.”

“Oh they’re gonna be good” Ashlyn nodded and winked, appreciating her wife’s humble optimism. “We’re gonna have so many College Cup games to go to in 5 or 6 years that we won’t even know what hit us.” 

They were quiet for a minute, enjoying the relative calmness of the luxury passenger van even with 4 kids in it. They were all looking forward to relaxing with Grandma in the warm winter sun of Miami. Every single one of them, including each of the kids, needed to slow down for a while whether they realized it or not.

“Just promise me we won’t stop trying” Ali spoke softly and tilted her head slightly at her beautiful wife.

“Won’t stop trying to what?” the keeper blinked, confused.

“Go to the Nutcracker, and our other holiday stuff. The things that we did that first Christmas we spent together...”

“Oh you have my word on that, sugarplum” Ashlyn kissed her wife’s cheek. “I will always want to go to the Nutcracker with you, and go skating on Frog Pond, and cut down our own Christmas tree. Always. Even when we’re old and grey.”

Christmas that year had been a blur, but a nice blur. Ali and Ashlyn really enjoyed spending time with their nearest and dearest and they felt more urgency about it because they had missed Thanksgiving with everybody that year. There were no regrets, but spending Thanksgiving with cousin Jeremiah had definitely left them all aching for the familiar faces of their more routine holiday family. 

Ali and Ashlyn had managed to get their Christmas shopping done but it hadn’t been easy. Not only did they feel like they were behind schedule, but it was getting harder and harder to keep the gifts from Santa hidden as the kids got older. The kids pretty much went where they wanted to go and looked where they wanted to look, and the long-time stash area of the garage loft office was fair game to them too. The kids just went places they didn’t used to go and it was odd. On the one hand, it was nice to see them expanding their horizons and using different spaces in the big old house. But on the other hand, it felt a little invasive at the same time. 

Ashlyn couldn’t help but remember how much easier it had been when the kids were younger. Some of it was much harder back then – especially the diapers and the illnesses that they were too little to explain to you. But you always knew where they physically were because they usually stayed in the same places. Or else they were corralled by childproof gates. Now they went wherever they wanted and it was an ongoing adjustment for the two moms. Ashlyn was surprised to find Josie in the office with her some afternoons, quietly drawing at the plan table at the back of the garage loft. Ali was often shocked to see Lily and one of the dogs, or both of the dogs, reading a book on their master bed. Dogs were still not allowed on the master bed unless expressly invited, and as cute as the scene always was, the brunette had to chase them to the floor before getting changed out of her work clothes. 

The little privacy the two moms had left was being further eroded as the kids got older and smarter and more aware. There had already been a great debate between Ashlyn and Ali about what to do with their adult toys. All they needed was for one of the kids to find them in Ali’s closet sometime. Jesus fucking Christ. That thought alone gave the brunette nightmares for almost a full week after they found Drew poking around in the attic at the back of the third floor. He said he wasn’t looking for anything in particular, just looking. But it had unsettled them both so they began exploring the idea of keeping their bedroom doors locked. That had been revised to maybe getting a lock put on Ali’s closet door. That had been further revised to getting some kind of storage trunk that locked instead. And that was as far as they had gotten with it to that point in December. 

“I’m just keeping everything at my mom’s this year” Ali had stated Thanksgiving night as she finalized plans for her annual Black Friday shopping trip. “Then we’ll bring it all back to the garage...”

“But they’ll find it there” Ashlyn frowned.

“Not if we keep the door locked” Ali gave her wife an exaggerated wink and tapped the side of her head where her big brain was.

Part of the nighttime routine for the house was to make sure the side door to the garage was locked. There was quite a bit of electronic equipment up in the loft office and tools and surfboards and other items on the ground floor too. It was unlocked almost all day long, as long as one of the moms was home, but they locked it up tightly as soon as they were done working in it for the day. The faded memory of the sick stalker gaining access to the space was enough to make Ashlyn or Ali walk over and check the door every single night, no matter how cold, wet or miserable the weather was.

“But everybody knows where the key is. And the spare key...”

“Well, nobody’s getting in there once we move the presents over from my mom’s” Ali folded her arms across her chest resolutely. “We’ll take both keys and only you and I will know where they are. Boom. Problem solved.”

The notion of Santa Claus visiting every house in the world on Christmas Eve and leaving presents for all the good little girls and boys was a tough sell once the kids got old enough to understand what all that entailed. Drew already knew the truth about Santa Claus and had so far been good about not ruining it for his younger siblings. The twins were still devout believers in the magic of Christmas but Josie was on the fence this year. Both Ali and Ashlyn had threatened Drew with everything in their power to keep him from pulling Josie over to his side of the looking glass. So far, so good. Ali’s heart swelled a few days before Christmas as she told her wife what she had overheard Josie say to Drew in the basement earlier that evening. Both moms had heard more than their fair share of kid things from the top of the basement stairs over the years. Some made them beam with pride. Some made them cringe in embarrassed horror. And some made their hearts soar with laughter and love.

“I’m not kidding Ash, I was ready to rip his head off if he told her” she began as she joined the keeper at the big dining room table after the kids were all up in their beds.

Ashlyn was concentrating hard on year two of her efforts to construct a gingerbread house. She had taken Carol’s advice from last year and kept the project smaller in scale this time. The goal was to build a modest gingerbread house that would actually stand up on its own and that tasted good too. After some failed gingerbread recipes in early December she had talked herself into accepting a gingerbread house that would just stand up. It could taste like crap for all she cared. That particular evening she was trying to see if her latest recipe was the right consistency or not. So far, so good, but it was too early to really tell yet. Sometimes the walls stood up for almost 30 minutes before falling down.

“He’s not gonna tell her though” Ashlyn shook her head, keeping her eyes on the two slabs of brown dough in front of her and believing, rather naively, that Drew would protect the secret of Santa.

“But he basically did. Well, he didn’t tell her, but he sure didn’t reassure her either.”

“But it’s not his job to extend the lie to her. That’s too much to ask. He shouldn’t have to do that until he’s got his own kids” the keeper pressed some extra dough into the corner of the two walls and held her breath as they both moved slightly after she pulled her hand away.

“I suppose you’re right” Ali sighed, lost for a moment in the idea of Drew having kids of his own. She was pulled out of her thoughts when the fledgling gingerbread house on the table in front of them folded inwards, both walls slowly bending without breaking on their way down. “Aww...”

“Jesus fucking Christ” Ashlyn whispered and slumped in her chair, dropping her chin to her chest in defeat.

They were both quiet for a moment. Ashlyn was tired of failing. Ali didn’t know what to say anymore. How many times could you say ‘you’ll get it next time honey’ before it sounded more like a taunt than real encouragement? Maybe the big old house wasn’t supposed to have a gingerbread house built inside it after all. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.

“So, do you wanna hear what Josie said to Drew?” the brunette cocked her head and smiled softly at her demoralized wife. When Ashlyn didn’t reply she tried again. “I think it’ll make you feel better.”

“Sure” the blonde blew out a big sigh and looked at her wife. “Why not?”

“She asked Drew if Santa was real or if parents were the ones who really bought all the presents and pretended to be Santa...” Ali leaned forward, excited to tell her keeper what had made her own heart so happy. “And Drew said ‘what do you think?’ in that patronizing freshman way of his” she rolled her eyes.

“Tell me when we get to the good part” Ashlyn half-heartedly teased as she dismantled what little was left standing of the two gingerbread walls.

“Here’s the good part” Ali’s face jumped into a broad smile, complete with nose-crinkling grin. “She tells him that the only reason parents have to pretend to be Santa is because the kids stopped believing in him. Once a kid stops believing, then Santa doesn’t come to that house anymore and the parents have no choice but to pretend” she dropped her hand to the table for emphasis and smiled proudly. “Can you believe that?”

“She really said that?”

“Swear to God” Ali put her hand to her heart and nodded seriously. “How much do we love that girl?”

“That’s pretty cool” Ashlyn smiled, a small one at first that grew the more she thought about their precocious 12-1/2 year old.

“Right?”

“What did Drew say?”

“Not one damned thing” Ali laughed. “He didn’t know what to say.”

“It’s hard to argue with that kind of logic” Ashlyn chuckled. “The logic of magic. Or the magic of logic. Who knew?”

“It explains why she’s still letting herself believe in Santa. Her brain is telling her it’s impossible so she’s come up with a reason why the story still works. She wants to believe. I love that so much.”

Miraculously, the two moms managed to get Santa’s gifts into the garage loft, and locked up safely, three days before Christmas which was on a Sunday that year. The only downside was that Ashlyn had left something important on her desk up there and couldn’t get it until Ali came home after work with the key. After that, the brunette hid the spare key somewhere in the house, just in case Ashlyn needed to get up there for something else in the days before Christmas. Luckily, it didn’t happen again. 

The kids got almost everything they asked Santa for and enjoyed themselves and their new presents. Christmas Eve had worked so well last year that they decided to do the same thing again this year. The Kriegers started the night before Christmas at the Flanagan’s house in Winchester with Whitney and Ryan’s families before driving up to Ipswich to Ken and Vicki’s for the rest of the evening. Christmas Day was at the big old house, just like the year before, and it was a lot of fun. They ate too much, drank too much, and spent time with each other doing all of the things that made their Christmases so special. One of Ali’s favorite Christmas traditions had taken on new meaning over the last couple of years when Drew had started watching ‘A Christmas Story’ with she and Ken. The brunette knew that if the movie got big brother Drew’s stamp of approval that the other kids would be drawn to it as well. Her tradition of watching it every year with her Dad would still be beloved, even if it stayed just she and her dad. But the idea that her own kids would join in on the fun had always seemed too much to hope for. Ali was very happy watching the movie with two of her favorite guys in the world. 

On Tuesday, two days after Christmas, Ashlyn took her family up to Manchester, NH to visit cousin Jeremiah again. They hadn’t seen him since Thanksgiving. Only Ashlyn had been up to see him between the holidays, but that was very normal. The difference this time was that Tammye and Carol went with them. Cousin Jeremiah was as cordial and respectful as he had been the last time and the visit had gone off without a hitch. They met at a diner not too far from the VA center and ate a late lunch together. Jeremiah seemed to enjoy watching the kids swivel on the big red stools at the counter, all lined up and spinning around like toddlers again. Neither mom could chastise them though, they both loved spinning on those stools too. Tammye was moved by meeting her long-lost relative. Even though she didn’t have many memories of any of her extended family, she could tell that Jeremiah was family. She swore it was something about his eyes, or maybe his smile.

And then they were in Miami on Wednesday, relaxing almost the instant they felt the warm 78 degree December sun on their pale New England skin. Tammye and Carol returned to Melbourne Beach and the Florida Harrises while Ali, Ashlyn and their kids went to Deb’s house.

“Here are my babies...” Deb greeted them at her front door with wide open arms and an even bigger smile.

Kyle and his family came down on Thursday and Lori Christopher joined them all too. Ali and Kyle were both happy to see their stepsister for the first time since Mike Christopher’s funeral 13 months earlier. The cousins were all excited to be together again and both Ali and Kyle took a lot of pride in that. They had always liked their NH Krieger cousins when they had all been growing up, but they were never as close to them as Edgar and Cristina were to Ali’s kids. The only thing missing was Meg, but she and Charlie were arriving on Friday. It was the first time he would be joining his girlfriend’s family for a major holiday and both Ashlyn and Ali were trying hard to make it a successful first visit for the tall, intelligent young man. Meg had gone to DC for Christmas this year while Charlie stayed in Massachusetts with his family. They were meeting at the Miami airport after a long, 8-day separation. Meg’s schedule had been so intense in November and December with her soccer tournaments that the couple had spent very little time together. There was no way they were going to be apart for New Year’s Eve. It would be their first real, romantic NYE celebration and Meg had only agreed to spending it with family in Miami after Ashlyn assured her that she and Charlie could have the night all to themselves. Most importantly, Deb was going to have all of her grandbabies with her for New Year’s Eve and she was elated.

“So do you know what’s up with mom?” Kyle asked his sister during a walk on the 65 degree beach Friday morning.

“What do you mean, what’s up with her?” Ali turned an alarmed face to him. “Is something going on?”

Kyle always did that to Ali and she never learned her lesson. He was constantly creating or imagining a crisis or some kind of dire situation for one of their parents. It was usually Deb, but occasionally Ken. He would present some borderline outlandish theory and get his sister all worried about it. It was some strange form of therapy for him. If he was worried about something with his mom or his dad, he would talk to Ali about it and in that therapeutic discourse the weight was lifted from his shoulders. Unfortunately, it was transferred directly into Ali’s heart and psyche. She would fret about it needlessly until Kyle would admit that he didn’t really think it was that big of a deal. He didn’t do it to be a jerk. It was just part of their relationship. The siblings shared their fears and worries with each other all the time. Ali’s were more based in reality though.

“I don’t know...” Kyle took a deep breath. “I just think something’s up” he shrugged. “She asked us all to come down here and go to NYE at the club with her...it just feels like she’s gonna tell us something, some kind of news or something.”

“Oh God” Ali went pale at the thought in her head. “What if she’s sick?”

They looked at each other with anxious faces and worried eyes.

“No, do you think?” Kyle’s voice was high and full of nerves. “No, no” he shook his head with false bravado. “It’s not that. It can’t be.”

To say that Ali’s thoughts were full of potential illnesses and ailments, both basic and devastating, would be an understatement. Ashlyn was pissed that Kyle had burdened the brunette like that again, but she had to admit that the atmosphere at Deb’s house that visit did feel thick with...something unspoken. Deb seemed fine though, better than fine in fact. She was happy as a clam to have all of her grandchildren with her, as well as both of her kids and their spouses. Having Lori there for part of each day was the icing on the cake for Deb. The relaxed vacation was spent shopping, eating all kinds of delicious, homemade food and treats, going to the beach, and playing with all of their new electronics from Christmas. There were no big plans and everybody just hung out and played board games and video games and outdoor games. 

The Krieger soccer games had picked up again now that the kids were getting older. The extended family had never stopped playing soccer at their gatherings, but the levels of intensity in the games had ebbed and flowed over the years. The oldest generation, Ken, had stopped playing but the younger kids were getting big enough to take over for them. Seeing Lori Christopher try to play soccer gave the younger kids a whole new appreciation for the athletic abilities and competitiveness of their own parents and the other four family adults they usually played with. Lori was 32 years old and in good shape, but she had never been very athletically inclined. It was a foreign concept to the Krieger kids. Even Kyle and Nathan were coordinated and athletic, although it wasn’t at the division 1A college level. Lori was a good sport about everything and liked being part of the team, but she was uncoordinated and a real liability on the field.

Friday night, December 30th, Ali and Ashlyn climbed into bed in the guest room of Deb’s house with tired smiles on their faces. It had been a wonderful day. Meg and Charlie had arrived around noon time and the afternoon had been spent with everybody hanging out together in Deb’s big living room. The family matriarch was cooking up a storm in the kitchen and taking time to teach both Ali and Nathan a couple of the specialties from her priceless Scaglione family recipe box. Deb hadn’t forgotten her pledge to pass those Sicilian traditions down to the next generation of cooks in the family. Ali and Nathan both eagerly participated, throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the adventure. Ashlyn and some of the kids kept coming and going, back and forth between the kitchen and the living room trying to be part of all the activities. It was only when Deb reassured everyone that she had lots of recipes to teach to everybody that they finally left that day’s cooks in peace.

They all moved to the backyard for a soccer game before dinner time, welcoming Lori Christopher for both the game and dinner and then cards, board games, and ice cream afterwards. She was staying with her mom for the week and had been coming over to Deb’s for part of each day during the Krieger visit. They allowed Meg to play goalkeeper but with only one arm. She also wasn’t supposed to leave her feet to make any saves but she got carried away and dove for a couple of balls despite her best efforts to follow the family rules of the day. Ali scored a goal but she knew it was only because of those restrictions they had put on the talented college senior in goal. It still felt great to score and the brunette celebrated with her patented finger guns which quickly turned skyward as she swung her hips from side to side. She didn’t go all out and taunt the other team, with her wife and brother on it, by rubbing their faces in it with her butt wagging version of the same celebratory dance – although she had been very tempted.

Ashlyn and Kyle had smashed into each other near the end of the game, both players sprinting towards the same ball in midfield. Kyle, who was actually playing midfield, called his sister-in-law off but Ashlyn was convinced she could get there first, and before Ali who was the opposing team’s striker coming to meet the pass. Ali pulled up at the last second, cringing as she watched Ashlyn and Kyle collide – knee to knee and hip to hip. They had both gone down hard and while Ali stood over them to try and assess the damage, her teammate Josie poked the ball away from the fracas and continued towards the goal. A nifty pass to Edgar resulted in a terrific shot from right in front of goal, but Meg was up to the task and stopped it. The injuries were only minor and play continued, with Ali and Josie and Edgar’s team winning by only one goal. The rest of the evening had been just as much fun with the kids all getting along well enough to play a big game of charades that had everybody laughing until their sides hurt before it was over. 

“How’s your knee?” Ali asked as she sat against the headboard that night, genuinely concerned about her wife’s problematic joint. 

The blonde and her bad knees was almost as big a worry as the blonde and her mother’s and grandmother’s arthritic hands. Ashlyn would have trouble with both for the rest of her life and she had soccer to thank for one and genetics for the other.

“Sore, but I’ll live” the keeper gave her wife a weary smile as she got under the covers. “I’m always amazed at how much ice actually helps” she sighed and winced just a bit. 

“Yeah, like all those sports docs know what they’re talking about or something” Ali laughed softly. “I know you hate the ice but I’m glad you took care of yourself today babe. Thank you” she leaned over and gave her wife’s lips a tender kiss.

“So...what are you doing? You’re sitting there like we need to talk about something...what did I do now?” 

Ashlyn was leaning on her left elbow, facing her wife who was still sitting up against the headboard with her glasses on. Ali wore an old, faded grey, original design ‘To Write Love on Her Arm’ t-shirt and a pair of thin cotton pajama pants, gold with maroon BC Eagles women’s soccer logos all over them. Her medium length dark brown hair was down around her shoulders and her face was freshly washed and moisturized and beautiful. The keeper got caught up in that face, her favorite face, for a few seconds until she heard her favorite voice speak with love and kindness and a little exhaustion mixed in.

“Nothing, silly” Ali reached out and ran her hand through the shaggy blonde hair at the side of her wife’s head. “I thought you might be sore or stiff...and maybe I could give you a massage...” she blinked sweetly at Ashlyn.

The keeper looked tired but happy. She was still bad at telling any of the kids no so she had spent almost the entire day playing some game or other with some kid or another. Once Meg and Charlie and Lori arrived there had been more fresh faces to join in the fun and Ashlyn had been able to relax a bit more, but she was still the go-to favorite playmate for Cristina and Edgar especially. She had already taken her glasses off and set them on the bedside table when she had shut off the lamp there and gotten into bed a minute ago. She wore a white, 2029 ‘The Academy’ t-shirt with some comfy blue sleep shorts and a lovestruck smile as she gazed up at her beautiful brunette.

“Aww, you don’t have to do that honey. I’m ok” she patted Ali’s right thigh through the covers, letting her hand rest there as they continued to look into each other’s eyes. “Can I give you one instead?”

“Well, now that you mention it, my leg is a little sore from kicking your ass all over the yard this afternoon...” she teased, keeping her voice light and playful while flexing her right leg under her wife’s hand.

“Oh come on!” Ashlyn’s jaw dropped and she smacked her wife’s thigh in amused outrage. “You’re not serious...” she continued to make a fuss but the deep dimple in her cheek made it clear just how much fun she was having. “The teams weren’t even fair. You had Nate and Charlie back there” she argued.

“Oh please” Ali rolled her eyes just as playfully. “We put Charlie in goal because he made Lori look like a superstar. Besides, you had both Kyle and Meg, and Drew and Dodge! You’re right the teams weren’t fair, your team was stacked!”

They argued quietly back and forth about it for a minute or two, poking and prodding each other physically as their verbal debate continued. It eventually turned into a low-key wrestling match with Ashlyn finally getting the upper hand and sitting on top of her wife’s lap, covers all tangled up and t-shirts all twisted from their endeavors. They had to keep their voices down because they were upstairs with everybody else. They had done what they always did when they stayed with Deb in Miami. All three girls were in Lori’s old bedroom, two in the bed and one on a blow-up mattress on the floor. All three boys in a similar fashion in Donnie’s old bedroom. Meg and Charlie were staying at a nearby hotel – a gift from Hannah for their first romantic NYE vacation. Deb had insisted that Kyle and Nathan take her master bedroom which would put her on the living room couch. Both of her children, and their spouses, objected vociferously but the matriarch got her way in the end, arguing that she was always up earlier than whomever was sleeping on the couch anyway so it just made good sense. What she didn’t admit was that it had been harder and harder to sleep in that master bedroom without Mike once she had started spending so much time in Massachusetts and New York with her kids and grandchildren.

“Shhhh...” Ashlyn shushed her wife who had let out one of her loud, shouting laughs. Ali was still somehow mostly in a sitting position against the headboard but she was slightly askew and slumped down a bit. “God you’re loud” the keeper shook her head, grinning as she secured her wife’s hands in her own and held them against Ali’s stomach.

The brunette continued to struggle against the grip for another minute or two, both of them panting and grinning, neither wanting to admit defeat. That is until Ashlyn winced and her whole body stiffened in pain.

“Ow! Shit!” she yelped as she shifted her body weight to her left and stretched her right leg out straight across the brunette’s body to release the pressure she had put on her bad right knee.

“Oh honey” Ali’s face softened instantly and then turned into a concerned frown. “Come on, get off your knee” she patted the bed next to her with one of her newly released hands and rubbed her wife’s shoulder with the other. “Do you want some more ice? How about some more advil?”

“Ouch...fuck...that’s better” Ashlyn sighed through another wince and blew out a breath as she sat herself up against the headboard on her side of the bed. “Damn. It sucks getting old.”

“Babe, your knee would be sore tonight after that knock even if you were still playing, or even if you were 38 instead of 48” Ali caressed her wife’s face as she got out of bed and went to her purse on the dresser near the door. She always carried a few advil and Tylenol with her no matter what. She had gotten into the habit way back in her sales days when she could spend an entire day on the road and needed to have a few things on hand just in case. “Here. You haven’t had any since dinner, right?” she asked as she placed 2 advil in her wife’s hand and then followed them with the water bottle from the bedside table. It was 11:15pm so it was safe to take more now.

“Yeah, right” Ashlyn nodded and sighed again as she swallowed the pills and washed them down with a couple of big gulps of water. “Thanks baby.” 

“What about the ice?” Ali stood next to the side of the bed, ready to go downstairs if necessary. “I’m sure that bag of peas is frozen again by now...”

“No, I’m good” Ashlyn shook her head and gave her girl a small smile. “I was dumb to kneel on it like that. It’s my own fault” she took Ali’s hand and held it in both of her own, wanting the brunette back in bed with her but also not wanting her to move away just yet to get there. “Thanks honey. You always take such good care of me.”

“Well I love you, you big silly” Ali squeezed her wife’s hand and bent down to kiss her forehead. “You sure about the ice?” she motioned towards the door with her free hand but Ashlyn spoke quickly.

“No I promise. I’m good. No ice” she smiled up at Ali again, tugging her closer by the hand. “But I could use another kiss...” she puckered her lips and then started gaping them open and closed like a fish out of water.

Ali giggled. “Cut it out.”

“What, you don’t wanna kiss me?”

“Not like that” the brunette giggled some more and put her free hand over Ashlyn’s mouth. “Yuck! Stop it!” she laughed as quietly as she could when she felt her wife’s tongue licking the palm of her hand which she quickly pulled away from her mouth. “Gross!”

“That’s not what you usually say about my tongue” Ashlyn wagged both eyebrows with a roguish laugh.

“That’s because your tongue is usually somewhere else” Ali flirted back suggestively.

“Oh yeah?” the keeper smirked and tried to pull her wife closer by the hand she still held. She scooted over towards the middle of the bed so there would be more room for Ali if she could just get her to do what she wanted. She lowered her voice and poured on the slow, sexy charm. “And where’s that?”

The brunette’s eyes went wide when she realized that Ashlyn was seriously trying to get her to have sex that night. They had arrived Wednesday and it was now technically their third night of vacation, so it made sense. They were both relaxed and at ease and enjoying their time away, but they were in such close quarters up on the second floor. The girls were just on the other side of the wall closest to Ali’s side of the bed for God’s sake! The 2nd floor bathroom was right across the hall from them and who knows how many kids would be getting up to use it? 

“Ash...” she stalled, still considering. 

They were both tired, but they had long ago decided not to let that stop them or they would have stopped having sex altogether once Drew was born. There was no denying the want Ali felt starting to hum inside her core. And the sultry look her keeper was giving her was definitely making her feel some kind of way. Still...there was no lock on the door...

Ashlyn could also read her wife’s face and knew exactly what she was struggling with as she stood there next to the bed chewing her bottom lip and resisting the physical pull of the keeper’s hand. 

“At least come make out with me for a while” she implored, pushing the covers off of her lap and tugging Ali toward her again. The soulful, puppy dog hazel eyes would be tough for the brunette to resist and Ashlyn employed them liberally as she begged. “Please?” 

“Don’t think I’m giving in” Ali cautioned with a quirk of her eyebrow as she allowed her wife to help her onto the bed and onto her lap, straddling her but staying up on her knees for the moment. “I’m not having sex in here, there’s no lock” she motioned over her shoulder towards the bedroom door, “the girls are right there” she pointed emphatically at the wall that was 2 feet from Ali’s side of the bed, “and if somebody comes down the hall to use the bathroom...”

“I know baby, I know” Ashlyn agreed but couldn’t keep the smirk from her lips no matter how hard she tried. She put her hands on Ali’s hips and tried to pull her down onto her lap, right thumb already seeking the magic spot near her left hip that made everything easier when it came to sexy times negotiations. “Just...kiss me for a little while...” 

Ashlyn leaned up and kissed her wife’s chin because she still couldn’t reach her lips, but it was enough. Her hot breath and soft lips moving along Ali’s jaw broke through the last of the brunette’s resolve and she sank down slowly onto Ashlyn’s lap with a soft hum and sigh. She tilted her head so the keeper could work her mouth all the way back towards her ear and then down her neck while her big hands travelled slowly and steadily around her back and hips and sides.

“God, I love kissing you...” Ashlyn mumbled into her wife’s ear on her way back up her neck.

The combination of heartfelt words delivered in Ashlyn’s hot and bothered voice, the warm breath on her skin, and the strong but gentle hands moving beneath her t-shirt at her back, made Ali’s whole body tremble. She finally let her own hands move and they went right to her keeper’s head, pulling it away from her neck and holding it in place while she gave her a deep, passionate, probing kiss of her own. Ashlyn took that as the positive sign that it was and let both her hands start to wander under her wife’s t-shirt. Her right hand slid down to Ali’s bare lower back, just teasing the waistband of her pajama pants. Her left hand moved up the brunette’s side, her thumb reaching out to graze the side of her breast and send a shiver through her system.

“Mmmmmm...” Ali moaned as she took her turn kissing Ashlyn’s neck while they both caught their breath. She spent some time on the sweet spot behind her keeper’s ear and moaned some more. “You feel so good...”

They made out for a long time, working each other up with roaming hands and mouths. Their lips were swollen and their heads were spinning and their passion was building and building. Things had progressed well past where they normally allowed things to go if they were just having a typical make-out session, one of the intimate ways they stayed connected and romantic during their hectic daily lives back at home. Sometimes they really were too tired to have sex and they settled for making out before passing out instead. But that was not going to be happening tonight, that was for sure. Whether Ali had accepted that in her brain or not yet was still not clear, but her body had already made the decision for her and both women could feel it. Ali had begun grinding against her wife and Ashlyn had slid her hands inside the brunette’s pajama pants and was squeezing and massaging her ass, pulling her in closer and tighter in rhythm with her grinding hips. They were both hot and a little sweaty as they breathed and panted together, stiff nipples poking into each other and turning them on even more.

“Fuck, baby...” Ashlyn’s hoarse voice revealed just how far gone she was the next time they took a break to breathe. “I want you, so bad...” she murmured into Ali’s neck and dug her blunt nails into her perfect, round ass cheek.

“Ooooh” Ali sucked in a breath at the powerful new sensation and rose up a little higher instinctively. Her breasts, still covered by her t-shirt, were right in Ashlyn’s face and she pulled the blonde head towards them and held it there as she kept rocking up and back in her wife’s lap. “Mmmm...so good...” she moaned softly.

Ashlyn couldn’t handle it anymore. She felt an overwhelming desire rise up inside her and she knew she had to have her wife’s naked body pressed up against hers or she would die. It felt that desperate.

“I need you...” she gasped out, mouth still being held against Ali’s t-shirt covered chest. “I need your skin...”

Ali released her wife’s head, sat back a little bit and pulled her t-shirt over her head, dropping it behind her on the foot of the bed in one smooth motion. She relished in the worshipful, hungry look in the hazel eyes staring back at her bare chest. Nothing was sexier than the way Ashlyn looked at her. Just as the blonde was about to lean forward and make a meal out of those bare breasts with their stiff nipples and perfect skin, Ali tugged up on the bottom of Ashlyn’s t-shirt. It confused the keeper for a second but Ali just kept tugging until she got the shirt over the blonde head and piled it behind her on top of her own.

“That’s better, hmmm?” she purred into Ashlyn’s mouth as they kissed hard again, their two chests pressed together and feeling incredible.

But Ashlyn didn’t want to stop at shirts. She lifted Ali up a bit, both hands now on her voluptuous ass, and then began to work the pajama pants down past her hips. Ali took the hint, all thoughts of stopping short of having sex a fleeting memory, and knelt in the middle of the bed so Ashlyn could help her step all the way out of them. The brunette quickly pulled the covers all the way off her wife’s legs so she could get her sleep shorts off too. Ali took a second and pressed a gentle kiss to her keeper’s sore knee on her way back towards the middle of the bed next to Ashlyn’s hip. As soon as they were both naked they paused, chests heaving and eyes darkening as they took each other in from a foot apart. 

“God you’re gorgeous.”  
“You’re so fucking beautiful.”

They both husked out the truest thing they could think of at the same time, pausing for a few more seconds before moving along to the next step in their loving dance that night.

“Is this ok?” Ashlyn couldn’t help but ask a few minutes later as the brunette was bent over, sucking on those pretty pink nipples she loved so much. 

“Well I’m not stopping now” Ali shrugged as she reached down for the covers and pulled them up to her wife’s waist, sliding her body next to Ashlyn’s and giving her a horny, hungry roll of her eyes. “No fucking way.”

Ashlyn tried to roll them over so she could take more control of the proceedings, but Ali wouldn’t let her. The brunette rolled on top of her wife and they both groaned in pleasure at all the skin to skin contact. 

“Is this ok on your knee?” she asked softly, her voice thick with want as it hovered just above the swollen pink lips of Ashlyn’s mouth. Her thigh was pressed in between the keeper’s legs and Ashlyn was already grabbing the back of it and grinding against it. 

“What knee?” she quipped, her breath catching with the first drag of her sensitive clit against her wife’s strong thigh. “All I feel is you, gorgeous. And you feel incredible...”

Ali felt the same core-twitching sensation and groaned as she gave a sultry smile back to her sexy wife. Ashlyn’s slick folds sliding against her leg was almost too much for the brunette to take. Everything felt good. Their breasts together. Their mounds and scratchy short hairs together, slightly off-center because of Ali’s thigh, but still together. Their lips together as Ali captured Ashlyn’s in a slow but searing kiss.

“Jesus, Ash...” she mumbled against her wife’s sweaty neck, drinking in the taste and scent of the sexiest woman she had ever known.

Ashlyn reached her long arm down and pushed the covers back off of them, except for the sheet. She fumbled for a few seconds before pulling just the sheet back up over Ali’s back, just to make her brunette feel more relaxed about possible intrusions. Ali marveled at how thoughtful her wife was, even subconsciously, at times like this. She had never known anybody more thoughtful or considerate than Ashlyn, even while they were trying to have quiet, controlled sex in a house full of family.

“I got you baby” the keeper cooed into her wife’s ear, nibbling on the earlobe and then kissing her way down her neck as she went. “Just relax and let me take care of you...”

But it was always that big-hearted kindness from the blonde that drove Ali wild. It almost never failed to light her fire and make her want to give Ashlyn the biggest orgasm of her entire life. It had always been that way for the brunette and she was fairly certain it always would be. 

“No, let me...” she pulled her head up and out of reach of Ashlyn’s eager lips. They blinked softly at each other for a few seconds, communicating a dozen different strong feelings and desires without saying a word. “I love you so much Ashlyn” Ali choked out emotionally. “Let me love you tonight...let me show you how much I love you...”

After another brief pause where both women looked like they might be overcome by their emotion, they crashed their lips together in the most powerful kiss of the night. Their hands groped any soft skin they could find while their hips rocked together and their lips locked together until they were both gasping for breath. Ali didn’t hesitate after that. Everything between them was slow and steady, building up from cold water in a pot to a roaring boil that threatened to spill over any second, but always slow and steady. There was urgency between them, as always, but mostly there was slow and sexy and seductive and steady. It was one of their very favorite ways to make love, hearkening back to their earliest days together. Nothing between them. Just themselves, their two bodies moving together as they had done a thousand times before. Every touch felt like magic and neither woman, not even Ali with her worry about being interrupted, wanted it to ever end. Yes, sex toys and kinks were great and they would always enjoy those aspects of their sex life too. But sometimes the pureness of just the two of them working together towards their release was the best sex they could ever imagine. This night was one of those times and they could both feel it. They had been relaxed and connected on a deep, intimate level even before they had started having sex. Those were always the best times. No contest. They had both tried to describe times like this to their besties in the past, never fully able to relay just how amazing it felt to be loved and touched and fucked by the woman who knew your body inside and out, upside and down. 

Ali kissed her keeper deeply again, letting her right hand trail down her colorful side and then squeeze in between their bodies. The brunette lifted her hips up just enough so she could work her hand down into her wife’s soaking wet pussy. She kept kissing her mouth and her neck and her throat while her other hand played with Ashlyn’s right breast beneath her. She felt her keeper spread her legs out wide, opening herself up to the brunette’s determined fingers. Ali raked them down through drenched folds and back up again, creating space for herself and teasing the blonde’s entrance at the same time. Ashlyn bucked her hips up with every touch, impatiently waiting for more. 

“Need you...baby...” she panted at the next break in the nearly continual kissing. The brunette was making her head spin with want and she really didn’t think she could wait any longer. “Please...”

Ali placed warm, open-mouthed kisses all over her wife’s face, stopping for a short liplock every third kiss. She smiled against her wife’s warm, pink skin and spoke so softly Ashlyn could barely hear her over the blood rushing around in her ears.

“I love you Ash. I love you” she paused, voice full of emotion again. “Love you so much...” she whispered next to her ear as she slid two fingers inside her keeper’s burning core.

“Oh, fuck yeah...”

“I love loving you like this, fucking you like this...” Ali continued her low, husky words full of just as much lust as they were love. She spaced her words out slowly, like a sexy spoken-word poem, all the while she continued pumping her fingers inside her wife’s silken walls, changing direction and pressing up into her g-spot now and then along the way. “I love feeling every little thing your body does, the way every muscle moves...I love hearing how wet you are for me...”

“Yes baby...you make me so fucking wet...” Ashlyn grunted as she lifted her free leg up at the knee and then dropped it back down to the side where it had started from. All of her limbs were moving of their own accord now as her wife’s expert touches brought her closer and closer to the promised land. “Fuck, Al...”

Ali slid off to the keeper’s right side and lowered her head to take a perfect breast into her mouth. She sucked and licked the nipple, flicking it with her tongue while her hand kept up its work below. The brunette slowly moved her left hand down the center of her wife’s undulating, rocking, thrusting body and tugged gently on her short hairs. She gave the nipple in her mouth a light nibble, barely grazing her teeth against the hyper-sensitive skin there, and circled Ashlyn’s clit with her fingers.

“Mmmmmm...” she hummed after releasing the keeper’s nipple with a pop. “You taste so good baby...” her slow, sultry poetry was back. “I swear I could eat you all up, every single bit of you...”

“Oh fuck, yes...” Ashlyn was desperately trying to get more pressure on her clit and rolled her hips a bit to her right before dropping them back down flat again. “Oh my God Al, my clit...please...”

Ali’s own want made its presence felt in that instant as well. Maybe it was all the begging from her strong keeper who wasn’t afraid to be vulnerable with her while they were having sex. The brunette sat up, letting the sheet slide down her back and fall onto Ashlyn’s thighs. There was barely enough room for her on the edge of the bed but she made it work, tucking herself in as close to the blonde as she could. Her right hand was still thrusting and swirling inside Ashlyn’s pulsing pussy and she moved her left hand back up to tease the beautiful breasts and their pink, erect nipples. Ali took a long look at the masterpiece her wife’s body truly was, all stretched out and flailing around in front of her, pale white skin with so much dark gorgeous ink everywhere. She knew in that moment that she would never ever see anything more magnificent in her entire life and it nearly moved her to tears. But she had work to do, love to give, orgasms to deliver.

“I love you Ashlyn...” she repeated her earlier refrain, this time with even more emotion in her words.

Ali spoke her words until she couldn’t speak them anymore because her lips were locked onto her wife’s sweetest flesh.

“Oh fuck...right there...yessss...” Ashlyn reached down and grabbed a tight fistful of brunette locks with her right hand and a fistful of the sheets with her left.

Ali let her tongue circle her wife’s sensitive nub a few times, starting out slowly and increasing in speed before sucking the whole delicious thing into her hot mouth. She hummed and moaned as she slid her lips up and down and side to side, never stopping what she was doing with her hands either. Ashlyn’s body was a writhing mess and her face looked almost anguished as she waited desperately for her release. Ali could feel her wife’s racing heartbeat under her breast while her left hand squeezed and massaged it. It was exhilarating and made the brunette push even harder. She focused her right hand on Ashlyn’s g-spot, thrusting up every time now. She moved her left hand quickly from one stiff nipple to the other and back again. She released the suction from her lips and instead began flicking her strong tongue as fast as she could over Ashlyn’s aching, swollen clit.

“I love you Ashlyn!” she panted out in a hushed but urgent voice, still trying to be quiet. She brought her left hand down to finish the job her tongue had started. “Come for me baby” she leaned over and kissed her keeper’s hip, biting gently and then licking the same spot again. It was difficult to find a place to kiss that wasn’t moving and rocking in anticipation of that next sweet step. “Come for me...”

Ashlyn brought her left hand back to cover her mouth so fast that she almost punched herself in the face, but she managed to muffle her cry as the big orgasm hit her hard. Her whole body shook and twitched as she came, and she had to push Ali’s hands and head away from her because she was too sensitive for any more touches of any kind.

“Too much!” she gasped out and curled her legs up to her chest before rolling over onto her left side towards the middle of the bed. “Oh...my...God...” she mumbled and reached back with one hand for her beautiful brunette. “Come here...”

Ali was already on her way, wanting nothing more than to be close to her wife as she rode out her high. The brunette curled up behind Ashlyn, spooning her and covering her cheek, neck, and shoulder with slow, soft kisses. Ashlyn clutched her wife’s arm tightly to her own chest and smiled stupidly at the lovely touches she was just starting to be able to feel.

“I love you Ashlyn...so fucking much” Ali whispered into her keeper’s ear before pressing a longer kiss just below it. “You’re amazing and I’m the luckiest woman in the world and I know it” she pressed her thighs up into the back of Ashlyn’s legs and gave her a light squeeze at the same time. “Thank you, honey. Thank you so much.”

“You just made me come so hard you couldn’t even touch me right afterwards and you’re thanking me?” Ashlyn chuckled as she turned her head to talk to her emotional wife. “What’s going on with you, you ok?”

“Yeah, of course” the brunette giggled shyly. “I don’t know, I just love you and I don’t think I tell you enough how much I appreciate you. I don’t know. I’m just being dumb I guess.”

“Aw baby, that’s not dumb” Ashlyn’s heart melted at her wife’s honest words. “That’s super sweet, just like you” she rolled onto her back, twitching through a couple of aftershocks as she did so. “Man, that felt amazing. You are a very talented woman, you know that?” she chuckled again as Ali curled into her right side with a satisfied hum, covering them both with the sheet.

“I had a pretty good teacher” the brunette giggled again. “Not that it ever felt like you were teaching me. See, that’s another thing that’s amazing about you...”

But Ashlyn had heard enough. She loved how soft her wife was being in that moment but she wanted to show her beautiful brunette how much she loved her now. Ashlyn turned her head and kissed her wife’s lips soundly, stopping all commentary and loving how quickly and eagerly Ali returned the kiss. They grinned adorably at each other once their lips pulled apart to breathe. Ali’s nose crinkled and Ashlyn’s dimple appeared and they shared a lovestruck look that spoke a thousand words.

“I love you too” Ashlyn finally broke the silence as she let her hands start wandering across her wife’s soft skin again. It was late and they didn’t have a lot of privacy but there was no way she wasn’t going to be giving Ali an orgasm that night. No fucking way. “And I appreciate you too and I’m gonna show you just how much right now...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So....I'm really confused by the fact that the Orlando Pride renewed or extended contracts for ALL of their players. Like....wut?  
> I expect half of the team to be replaced, basically. Maybe they're just waiting to see how the draft goes?? I don't know, but I'm confused as hell.


	41. So Much Better Than Great

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter of Part 13.  
> Thanks for reading along everybody. i appreciate you. <3
> 
> Part 14 Coming Soon...

Debra Ann Johnson Krieger Christopher surveyed the beautifully decorated entrance foyer of her late husband’s country club in Miami, Florida. Mike Christopher had passed away 14 months ago. The Krieger clan hadn’t joined in the club’s big, day-long, NYE celebration since the end of 2028. But now that it was 12-31-2033, everything felt both slightly familiar at the club, but oddly different too. Deb couldn’t put her finger on it that early afternoon as she watched her own grown children, Kyle and Ali, distribute the sticker style name tags and complimentary leis to her grandchildren. But something had definitely shifted. She could feel it in her bones. She had been struggling with a decision for over 6 months by that NYE day, and suddenly she knew exactly what she wanted to do...what she needed to do. She had asked her family to join her at the club this NYE for her late husband, as a kind of homage to the man she had loved for over 25 years. Mike died at the end of October in 2032, 6 weeks before their 25th wedding anniversary, which had felt like an extra punch in the gut for Deb. She hadn’t been ready last NYE, only 2 months after his death, to have everybody down to the club. But she was ready now. 

The universe seemed to be in agreement with the widow’s plan too. Could it be just a coincidence that the theme at the club for this year’s NYE celebration was a Hawaiian Luau again? The same theme from 2015 when Ali and Ashlyn had attended together, as friends, for the very first time? Deb thought not as she smiled at her grandchildren who were practically vibrating with enthusiasm at the long afternoon, evening, and night ahead of them at the accommodating and well-stocked club. It had been five years since their last NYE celebration at the club but they all had vivid memories of eating whatever they wanted, drinking their fill of sugary drinks, and enjoying relative freedom as long as they behaved themselves and didn’t hurt any of the other partygoers in the process. Even Drew, 14-1/2, and Edgar, 2 weeks shy of 14, were giddy with excitement at the prospect of spending almost 12 full hours in the ultra-hospitable environment.

“Now let’s go find Mama and Uncle Nate so we can sign up for the races and games we want to do” Ali said as she and Kyle ushered all 6 kids out towards the rear of the club where all the activities had been set up. 

“Ready to head in?” Meg asked Deb as she and Charlie finished pressing their name tags to their chests in the entranceway of the club.

“I am” Deb smiled at the beautiful redhead. “I’m so glad you two could make it. Thank you for spending the day with us. And I know you have big plans for tonight” she wagged her eyebrows at the young couple who both blushed profusely, “so don’t feel bad about leaving whenever you need to leave.”

“Grandma!” Meg whisper-yelled as the three began walking through the beautiful clubhouse. “Oh my God...” she cringed and shook her head in embarrassment. Charlie had the good grace to not say a word. His own WASPy upbringing hadn’t prepared him in any way for the Krieger experience. Nobody in his neat and tidy, White Anglo-Saxon Protestant family would ever dream of commenting about having sex. Ever. As far as they were concerned, pregnancy was the result of immaculate conception. Every time. Sex was something you did with your spouse in private and never talked about, with anyone. Charlie couldn’t help but grin at Deb, just a bit.

“I have a lot of good memories from the first time we were here for Hawaiian Luau New Year’s Eve” Ashlyn smiled broadly after they got the kids all signed up for the different activities they wanted to do.

“I remember it well too” Ali leaned up and kissed her wife’s cheek.

“Well I remember your face after Ash kissed you at midnight” Deb laughed at her daughter. “You looked like you’d won the lottery and seen a ghost, all at the same time.”

“Too much pork from the pig roast?” Kyle teased, knowing the story so well after hearing about it for 18 years. “Our girl does NOT shy away from her food.”

“One of my favorite things about her” Ashlyn defended her wife, pulling her into a side hug and kissing her temple.

“Did you go skinny dipping that first year or the one right after?” Kyle quipped with a devilish smirk.

“What?! You guys went skinny dipping here?” Meg’s eyes went wide at the new information.

“No!” Ali moved forward and smacked her brother in the arm, hard. She was blushing too. “We did not. Not ever.”

“What was the year you came down again Kyle? The first time we were all here together?” Ashlyn asked pointedly, pretending not to remember when Kyle and his then boyfriend Nico had joined them for NYE. It was a good shot in their growing battle, harmless or not. She knew Nathan had a good sense of humor about it so she felt ok letting the unanswered barb fly.

“Oh geez” Deb clutched at her chest as she realized what was going on. “It’s too early in the day for you kids to be getting this riled up already. Save it for the obstacle course. Let’s go find your children and see what they’re up to” she chuckled.

As if further change of topic was needed, Josie came jogging up to the group and stood in front of Meg.

“Are we still doing the 3-legged race together?” she looked up into her tall sister’s smiling face, squinting in the midday sun.

Their plans had been made before Charlie had officially joined the day’s activities and the younger redhead honestly didn’t know the answer. The kids liked Charlie just fine, but Josie sometimes got possessive of the big sister she idolized more all the time.

“Oh definitely” Meg nodded seriously. “Did you sign us up?”

“No, not yet...I wasn’t sure...”

“Well let’s go Jojo, we don’t wanna miss out” Meg cut her off, took her hand, and hurried over towards the activity organizer’s table to secure their spot in the race.

“What are you gonna sign up for Chuck?” Ashlyn asked, using the nickname she had adopted for the first serious suitor any of the kids had ever brought home. Some of his high school friends used to call him Chuck so it was a perfectly fine nickname in Charlie’s eyes.

“Oh, umm...I don’t know” he shrugged and grinned like a dope. It was extra adorable because he was a big tall guy and also extremely intelligent. But he had this ‘aw shucks’ personality that made him very approachable and almost goofy at times. “What do you suggest?”

Ashlyn sized him up quickly and tried not to laugh as she spoke.

“Well, I hear you’re good with your hands” she said with a straight face as she put her arm around his back and began walking him along behind the two redheads, although at a much slower pace. She was glad Meg hadn’t heard her double entendre. It would have embarrassed the young woman and made her blush. “Can I interest you in the water balloon toss?”

“Oh I see how it is” Ali called after them, hands on her hips and competitive fire in her eyes. “That’s my specialty, in case you forgot. It’s not me who breaks the balloons every year we do that competition!”

Ashlyn turned her head and winked playfully at her beautiful brunette. “Bring it, woman!”

“Oh I’ll bring it” Ali chortled. “Nate, you in?” she asked her brother-in-law as she pulled him by the arm to follow along. “Let’s go.”

Nobody would admit to doing it on purpose, but the Krieger clan competed in almost all of the events Ali, Ashlyn, and Kyle had done back before they had pregnancies and kids to keep them from so many of the games. In addition to the popular 3-legged race and water balloon toss, they participated in the blindfolded trust obstacle course, played in the volleyball tournament, and tried their hand at the trivia contest as well. It was a nostalgic day for Deb, Ali, Kyle, and Ashlyn. Nathan and the kids hadn’t been to many NYEs at the club so they didn’t feel the same déjà vu, but they had a great time and could tell it was an important and meaningful day for the family.

Drew, Edgar, Meg, and Nathan played in the 4v4 volleyball tournament and did pretty well. Kyle and Dodge teamed up for the water balloon toss and beat both Ashlyn and Charlie as well as Ali and Nathan, but not by much. Josie and Meg came in 2nd place for the 3-legged race but it was a really close finish. Lily and Cristina came out of nowhere and surprised everyone with their speed and coordination, finishing 3rd. The blindfolded trust obstacle course continued to be the marquee event of the day, however. Ali and Ashlyn had won it their very first year of attendance, back in 2015, and they were excited to branch out and compete with some of their kids this year. Because it was such a popular event, the club had started having a 16 and under race and then an adults-only race. If you were 16 or younger you could run the race and have anybody, no matter their age, be your caller partner. 

It was a tricky challenge and not everybody was interested in participating. The caller partner stood on a platform at the beginning of the obstacle course, which was also the finish line after racing up to the halfway point and then coming all the way back as well. Ali, for example, yelled out instructions to Drew who was blindfolded and trying to navigate the obstacle course. There was also great debate about what the teams should be and who should be the sighted caller and who should be the blindfolded runner through the obstacle course. To keep things fair among the competitive Krieger clan, they decided that the teams should be a grown-up and a kid and the grown-up should be the sighted caller. If Charlie and Meg functioned as grown-ups then all the kids could enter the competition if they wanted to. The Krieger teams were: Ali and Drew, Ashlyn and Dodge, Kyle and Edgar, Meg and Josie, and Nathan and Lily. Cristina could not be convinced to join in and, honestly, nobody thought Lily would last more than a couple of obstacles at best. Deb, Charlie and Cristina cheered all their teams on as best they could, even trying to help Lily when it became obvious that she couldn’t hear Nathan anymore in all the commotion.

Meg and Josie did well, the goalkeeper’s loud voice leading the younger redhead through the obstacles without too much trouble. But Josie’s short legs made it hard for her to keep up with the other contestants. Drew, Dodge, and Edgar gave it everything they had and the race came right down to the wire. Another team was in first place but stumbled on the very last obstacle which allowed Drew to sprint past and secure the victory for he and Ali. Kyle and Edgar finished in third place and Ashlyn and Dodge came in a disappointing 6th. Dodge wasn’t as focused as his brother and cousin and didn’t follow his Mama’s instructions as well as he should have. It was a lot of fun for everybody and turned out to be a great learning tool too. Ali and Ashlyn had been trying to get Dodge to focus more in school and this firsthand experience would be very helpful to them. Dodge was a very smart kid, but he got distracted in class sometimes and his teachers had talked to the two moms about it for the last couple of years. They all knew he wouldn’t be able to get away with it in middle school next year. His grades would suffer for sure.

Later in the afternoon Deb asked if any of the kids would do some of the less athletically challenging games with her, like giant Jenga, lawn Twister, and frisbee Tic Tac Toe. The parents were all relieved and happy to see their kids agree to Deb’s requests as they happened throughout the day. Cristina loved giant Jenga and she and Lily both played that with their Grandma as well as frisbee Tic Tac Toe. Surprisingly, Drew and Edgar offered to play lawn Twister with their Grandma and it turned out to be one of the highlights of the day.

“Grandma, Grandma” Dodge blurted out about halfway through the afternoon fun.

“Yes, sweet boy! What is it?”

“Can we play mini golf? Can we play mini golf?”

Nathan was the only parent nearby and he sucked in a quick breath at Dodge’s earnest, innocent request. He wasn’t sure how Deb would react or if he should intervene, so he waited to see how it played out. Deb hadn’t played golf of any kind since Mike passed away. It hadn’t been a conscious decision at first as much as it had been a condition of reality. Deb spent much of the winter in New England and you didn’t play golf in the winter in New England. When summer came around and the family went and played mini golf from time to time, Deb sat out, choosing to watch and cheer them on instead. She used the excuse of having even numbered teams but Ali and Ashlyn both knew something was up. After dodging the activity while they were all in Texas for the College Cup weekend in December, she finally admitted to the two moms that playing golf was too much for her heart just yet. It had been Mike’s favorite thing to do, something they had done together so many many times over the years, and she just couldn’t do it without him yet. Now she was being asked directly by one of her beloved grandchildren. The kids didn’t realize any of the subtext surrounding the request. They were innocent and naïve about their grandmother’s grieving process, for the most part. But Deb had always tried to say yes to her grandkids, as often as humanly possible. Things were different now though. They were in uncharted waters. Nathan watched his mother-in-law smile thoughtfully as she considered the request, with Dodge shifting weight from leg to leg in front of her – so much like Ashlyn it was almost spooky.

“Sure we can honey. Of course.” 

Several members of the family joined in with a little encouragement from Nathan and Meg who had also become aware of the situation. The temporary mini golf course that had been brought in for the NYE event wasn’t that great, but the game turned out to be one of the best Deb could remember. Her heart was heavy as she moved through the 9-hole course but every time she started to get emotional about Mike, one of the kids would do something cute or sweet or just funny and pull her back from the brink. Meg had been paying more attention to Deb than ever since Mike’s death. The young woman was trying to be there for her grandmother, even though she wasn’t entirely sure how to do that. Deb had shared her feelings with the redhead whenever Meg asked her about her grief. Meg had learned a lot over the past 14 months about how strong her grandmother was and how difficult love and loss could be. She made sure to keep things light during the mini golf game and Deb appreciated her efforts immensely. 

“I’m alright you know” Deb gave the tall redhead a small smile as they followed the rest of the kids off of the 9th hole and towards the next activity, whatever the hell it was going to be. She moved her golf club to her other hand and wrapped her arm around Meg’s waist, returning the side hug her granddaughter had been giving her as they walked along. “That was hard, but I’m glad we did it.”

“YOU did it Grandma” the redhead squeezed Deb’s shoulders. “We all just made it noisy” she chuckled. “You’re the one who did it.”

Later in the afternoon Drew almost won the putting contest too. He and both his moms had participated. Drew did better than Ashlyn but not better than Ali, even though neither woman had golfed in forever. Deb cheered on all three of them, flooded with memories of Mike helping Drew with his putting stroke at the golf course up in Manchester, MA a couple of months before he died. She knew the day would be full of emotions and memories and it definitely had been. Some of it had been painful as hell. But most of it had been absolutely wonderful. Deb struggled to push off the deeper thoughts until later, after everybody had flown back North the next afternoon. But she found herself unable to keep them at bay as everybody split up into smaller groups after dinner – another Hawaiian Luau pig roast down on the beach. Instead of dancing or joining in the trivia contest, which was one of her favorite events, Deb quietly walked down the dusky beach, away from the amiable chaos of dinner clean-up and final activities decisions from the big crowd of attendees.

“It’s amazing how much the ocean drowns out all the rest of the noise down here, isn’t it?” Ali asked as she approached her mother who was standing shin deep in the surf with her arms wrapped around herself.

It was cooling off, with a breeze coming in off the water, but it was still in the low 70’s. It felt cooler though because they were standing still for the first time since they had arrived at noontime that day. Deb turned to see who all had come to check on her, relieved to see only her daughter walking across the sand to join her. Ali was surprised to see a small, peaceful smile on her mother’s face.

“Something about the way the beach curves, right back there” Deb nodded a little ways down the sand towards the pig roast fire and group of club-goers who hadn’t moved on to evening activities yet. “Mike told me about it once. Something to do with acoustics and wind” she shrugged, still smiling.

“You ok Mom?” Ali asked as she kicked out of her sandals and let the cool water roll up her feet. “Do you want me to leave you alone?”

“No, I’m fine honey. I promise” she reached out and took Ali’s hand, leading her to her side where they stood in a loose sideways hug as they watched the sun starting to get lower on the horizon. “If I’d wanted to be alone I wouldn’t have asked you all to come down here” she winked.

“Just checking.”

“I’m so glad you’re all here. Really, it means so much to me Alex...”

“We love being with you, mom. You know that” Ali replied, trying to figure out what strange sort of mood her mother was in. She seemed sad but had a big smile on her face. She asked them all there for the day but was out here all by herself. “And I know you can take care of yourself just fine, and all of the rest of us too if we need it. You’re pretty great, you know that?”

“I love you too baby girl” Deb gave her girl a squeeze.

They were quiet for a couple of minutes, just standing there watching the beautiful sky and the powerful sea.

“So...what’s going on?” Ali broached the subject she and Kyle had been putting off for the past couple of days. “What did you bring us all down here to tell us?”

Deb took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and sighed, still keeping that placid smile on her face. The non-answer made the brunette’s stomach churn and her palms sweat.

“Are you sick mom?”

“What?” Deb turned a shocked face to her daughter and then creased her brow and shook her head. “No, honey. No, I’m not sick.”

Ali didn’t say anything for several seconds, unable to get her mouth to formulate words because her own question had terrified her so much. It had been so much more frightening to ask that question than she had thought it would be.

“Really, Alex. I’m fine. Honestly.” Deb’s face softened and she pulled the brunette into a proper hug, turning them sideways and squeezing tightly. “I’m sorry you’ve been worried about that. I didn’t think about that. I’m sure you and your brother have both been losing sleep over it this week, haven’t you?” she asked as they pulled apart.

“Yeah, a little bit I guess” Ali shrugged. She didn’t want to make her mom feel bad because they had let their imaginations run away on them. “So, what’s going on then? Something’s different, I can tell.”

“Well, you’re right” Deb sighed as they shifted back to face the horizon again. “I’ve made a big decision and I wanted to talk to you both about it. I wanted to talk to you both first, but I already made my decision today, here, while we were all together...”

“Mom, what are you talking about?” Ali’s concerned voice didn’t hide her worry at all. “You’re not making any sense...”

“I’m excited, and nervous, I’m sorry” Deb grinned as she gave her daughter a reassuring sideways glance. “I’ve been trying to decide what to do with the rest of my life and it’s been hard...” she paused and looked down for moment. “I’ve been trying to make this decision since this summer and I just wasn’t sure. Until today. I just knew I had the right answer, finally.”

“Well what is it mom?” Ali’s whole face was up and wide open in anticipation.

“If it’s ok with you both, you and Kyle I mean...”

“Of course it’s ok with us, whatever it is” Ali interrupted and moved her hands anxiously between she and her mom, trying to get her to hurry up and spit out the big news.

“Well, I’m going to sell the house down here and move up North, fulltime” Deb announced proudly, her face jumped into a big smile and her shoulders relaxed as relief flooded her system. The only thing better than finally making the decision was saying it out loud.

“Oh mom! That’s awesome!” Ali gave her a big hug, genuinely happy for her mother’s visible relief and the welcome news. “Wait, you love it down here though, are you sure about this?”

“I’m sure Alex. Believe me” she chuckled and rolled her eyes. “It’s been a really hard decision but I know it’s the right thing for me. I just know it is.”

“Oh my God, well the kids are gonna be thrilled!” Ali squealed with delight. “And so are we, obviously. Oh Mom, this is so exciting!”

“It is, it really is” Deb replied in a softer voice. “I’m happy too.”

“But, sad to leave too, huh?” 

“Sad too, yes” Deb nodded and let a heavier sigh leave her lips. 

“Today’s been hard for you, hasn’t it?” Ali rubbed her hand up and down her mother’s back, slowly trying to soothe the strong woman she had learned so much from over the course of her lifetime. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh there’s nothing to be sorry for” Deb tried to brush off the melancholy but couldn’t do it. It hung there with them for several more minutes as they talked. “I felt everything change as soon as we got here today. This is going to sound ridiculous” she looked sheepishly at her daughter. “But it was almost like I could feel him let go of me today. Here. At the club. At his favorite place.”

“Aw, Mom...”

“No, it was a good thing, I don’t know, it’s hard to explain” she shook her head, frustrated, but kept going. “I planned today for him, to kind of, oh I don’t know...to honor him I guess. And as I was watching you and Kyle get the kids checked in it just hit me. I was standing in the entranceway of the club and it was just so clear to me what to do. You and Kyle and the kids...you were the future...you were what I wanted to focus on going forward. Walking through that foyer and into the party today was like stepping through a doorway and into a new place. Or maybe like turning a new page in a book, or a new chapter or whatever.” Deb paused and took a big breath and smiled again. “I know it sounds silly, but it felt like Mike was there with me and helped me take that first step forward. Like he wanted me to go.” She saw Ali frown. “No, but in a good way. I could feel him really strongly today, almost like he was standing right next to me when we got here. And as the day went on, I felt him less and less. But I know he was with me during mini golf. He helped me do that. I have all these wonderful memories of him teaching the kids how to hold the putter” she laughed and smiled brightly. “It just felt really right today. He helped me get back to golfing and after that...well, he feels far away again now. But in a good way. I feel really good about this decision Alex. What do you think? Is it ok if I move up to Manchester full time?”

The two women grinned at each other, giggled conspiratorially, and hugged again. As they pulled apart, Ali nodded and then laughed.

“Kyle’s gonna be soooo jealous!”

//

At 11:30pm the entire Krieger contingent gathered back at the beach for the fireworks show that always capped off the NYE celebration at the club. In the 4-1/2 hours since dinner had ended, the group had dispersed and done several different things. Deb had taken her solo walk on the beach right after eating while the four parents laid down the rules and expectations for the rest of the night. They all knew it was going to be challenging keeping tabs on the 6 kids as the live band started to play up in the enormous ballroom of the club. Another round of the trivia contest was played and the outdoor chess, checkers, and domino tables were very popular as well. Ali made it her personal mission to make sure all the kids were drinking enough water because they had been running around all day long and sweating their little butts off. She could see how tired they all were, but in that great, spending the whole day outside way, and she was trying to fend off any exhaustion-related meltdowns. The kids were excited to stay up way past their bedtimes and watch the midnight fireworks on the special occasion. And as always, they struggled to keep their eyes open after 10pm. 

Ashlyn decided it would be a good idea to relax down on the beach and get a spot picked out for the whole family. She and Meg and Charlie and Nathan were in charge of that while Deb and Ali and Kyle tried to guide the kids through the difficult late evening hours as painlessly as possible. At about 10:30pm Meg and Charlie went for their own walk on the beach in the soft glowing tiki lights that had proved so romantic for Ali and Ashlyn all those years ago. 

“I really like him” Nathan nodded after the couple once they were a good distance away from the 4 chaise lounge chairs he and Ashlyn had set up around a big beach blanket in the middle. “I thought I liked him a lot before, but now I’m sure.”

“Yeah” Ashlyn let out a big sigh as she watched the tall, dark-haired man walking next to sweet Meg, holding her hand and bending his head towards hers. He treated her like gold, just as Ali had contended previously as she tried to convince Ashlyn to give the young man a chance, and everybody could see it. “I guess if she’s gotta be with somebody she could do worse than him.”

“So romantic Ash” Nathan chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Don’t let Meg hear you say that, please.”

“You just wait ‘til somebody comes along and steals Edgar’s heart” she cautioned with a knowing look. “Then you’ll understand.”

“Mama, I’m tired” Dodge announced as he jumped to a stop next to her chair, accidentally spraying sand up at her.

“Dodger, come on” she complained, aggravated by the sand now covering her side. She had turned her head just in time so it didn’t get into her contact lenses or she would have been angry instead of just annoyed. “Why? Why would you do that?”

“I dunno” he shrugged impishly. It looked like he was trying to be cute but anybody that knew him well knew that he was embarrassed by his dumb move. “Sorry” he smiled hopefully, and tiredly, at his frowning mother.

“Look, you got sand all over the blanket” she continued, pointing and frowning some more. “Brush it off of there. Nobody wants to lay down on a sandy blanket like that. Come on.”

Dodge dutifully got down on his hands and knees and brushed as much of the sand off the blanket as he could. He dragged almost as much back onto it with his feet though as he spun around on his knees trying to get the job done quickly.

“Ok, that’s enough big guy” Nathan chuckled from his seat in one of the other chaise lounge chairs on the other side of the blanket. There was about 6 feet of space between Ashlyn’s chair and his chair, with two more chaise lounges a bit behind them and closer together at the top of the semi-circle around the blanket. “You’re just making it worse.”

Ashlyn looked at her son and gave him one of Ali’s patented frowning duck faces, shaking her head slowly and letting out an exasperated sigh.

“I’m sorry” the boy repeated in a whine as he stood back up facing his mother. His face scrunched up and she could see the tiny quiver in his bottom lip, even in the dim lighting. It was only then that Ashlyn realized just how tired he was.

“Aw, it’s ok, come here” she opened her arms as she gave him a warm, forgiving smile. “It’s been a long day huh bud? You must be exhausted. I know I am.”

Dodge hesitated for a second, the 10-1/2 year old conflicted about the desire to curl up with his Mama, afraid of the teasing he would certainly get from his cousins and siblings if they saw it. Ashlyn was sitting upright in the chaise with her legs stretched out in front of her. She tilted the chair back a bit and used Ali’s sweatshirt to make a pillow on her crotch for his head, patting it invitingly.

“Let’s you and me have a little rest before everybody else comes down for the fireworks, we’ve still got an hour and a half, what do you say?”

He didn’t say anything with his mouth, but the relieved and grateful look on his face said it all for him as he laid down on his side between Ashlyn’s long legs and wrapped an arm around her thigh. They were quiet for a minute or two and then the keeper felt the tell-tale pat on her leg as Dodge settled into rest mode. Those little pats are what made the sand and the bruises and the apologies fade right away. He was asleep within 5 minutes.

The rest of the crew came down piecemeal over the next hour or so. Ali, Lily, and Cristina arrived next, the two girls sharing one chaise lounge and Ali settling into the other. She wished she had her sweatshirt down on the cooling beach but when she greeted her wife with a kiss on her cheek and saw how it was being used she never said a word about being chilly. Instead, she took a picture of what would become a favorite memory for both women. It wasn’t quiet on the beach, not by a long shot. There were dozens of people there doing the same thing Ashlyn and Nathan had been doing – carving out their space for midnight. There were older people and younger people and families and groups of friends all laughing and drinking and talking under the clear, dark sky as the waves rolled in with the rising tide. The big firepit was mostly out, not even hot enough to toast marshmallows anymore, and the air felt crisp and clean.

Another half hour went by before Deb and Kyle escorted Drew, Edgar, and Josie to the beach blanket. The redhead was fit to be tied and looked like a teapot about to boil over.

“It’s not fair” she grumbled as she sat on the blanket, angrily folded her arms across her chest and stuck her bottom lip out in a severe pout.

“Life’s not fair my love” Kyle sighed and bent over to kiss the top of her head as he moved to sit with his husband. “You did your best and you can be proud of that, even if you didn’t win.”

“Quit whining” Drew added with a laugh as he plopped down onto the blanket, finishing a can of coke and poking his sister’s leg with his foot. “Not everybody can be a winner.”

It was cocky and obnoxious but true and Drew had earned bragging rights that day. He had been the big winner. He and Ali had won the obstacle course, and his team had won the mini golf game too. He had also come very close to winning the putting contest, losing the family’s own competition to Ali. There was no way any of them could compete with the avid golfers who were members of the club so they decided to have their own Krieger challenge instead. Honestly, Ali was more upset about the caffeine he just drank at 11:30pm than the boastful taunt. Deb caught her daughter’s eye and shrugged apologetically for the coke. 

“He didn’t ask” Deb explained, speaking quietly while the mood shifted on the blanket in front of them.

“Shut up, jerk” Josie squinted daggers at her brother and pushed his foot away with her leg. 

It wasn’t quite a kick, but it was dangerously close to one. Sore loser and super competitive Josie Krieger was about to lose her shit and everybody could feel it. Everybody except Dodge who was still asleep with his head in Ashlyn’s lap.

“That’s enough” Ali spoke sharply, getting up from her chair to stand behind Josie with her hands on her hips. 

“Come on guys” Ashlyn added immediately after her wife. Her voice was pleading. “It’s been such a great day. Don’t ruin it now. We’ve got 15 minutes before the fireworks. Keep it together.”

“Mom, you take that chair” Ali pointed to the chaise lounge she had just vacated.

The public address speaker blurted out that it was 11:45pm and time for everybody still up at the ballroom and the clubhouse to make their way down to the beach for the fireworks show.

“15 minutes to fireworks!” Meg’s excited voice filled the area as she and Charlie rejoined the group. 

They both had pink cheeks and big smiles on their faces and if it wasn’t quite so dark Ali swore she could have made out some swollen lips too. The brunette was envious of their walk on the beach. For the first NYE ever at the club, she and Ashlyn hadn’t been able to take their own walk down that beach. Neither of them had very much alcohol in their systems either, which was another change. They both enjoyed ringing in the New Year with a little buzz on while they celebrated with friends and family. 

“Hey, you’re in our chair” Meg cocked her head at Lily and Cristina before focusing on Nathan. “Nice job saving our seats Uncle Nate.”

“Oh, right. My bad” he turned around to the chair behind him and pointed the girls towards the blanket. “Let’s go ladies. Your spots are on the blanket.”

“You lost your seat too” Ashlyn looked up at her wife and gave her a cute frown, nodding at Dodge.

“I see that” Ali chuckled. “I’ll deal with you in a minute” she playfully quirked her eyebrow at her keeper before turning back to the kids. “Everybody got everything they need? We’ve got water there” she pointed towards Kyle and Nathan’s chair. “And there’s no way any of you can possibly be hungry...”

“10 minutes folks. We’ve got 10 minutes to go until the fireworks show!” the PA sounded loudly again.

“Stop it Drew!” Josie yelled at her brother who had continued to poke her leg with his foot. He was apparently feeling pretty invincible.

“I didn’t do anything!” Drew replied in true annoying sibling fashion.

It was a song and dance they had all seen, heard and even participated in themselves and nobody was in the mood for it.

“Just move away from him honey” Ashlyn encouraged calmly. Dodge finally started to wake up from all the commotion. She nodded at the redhead. “Make your own space.”

Josie jumped up and, for a moment, looked like she was going to either tackle her brother or kick him as hard as she possibly could. Ali reached out for the girl’s arm and got ready to pull her away from whatever came next. But before she had to do anything else, Deb’s clear voice called out from behind them.

“Jojo, will you please come sit with me? I’m chilly and I need your little furnace to keep me warm. Please?” she asked with a light, loving voice, stretching the last word out for several seconds.

The angry 12-1/2 year old turned away from Drew and yanked her arm out of Ali’s loose grip as she stalked the 3 feet back to her grandmother. Ali felt her temper flare but before it could even go anywhere, Ashlyn’s hand found hers and gave it a light squeeze.

“Why is there shouting?” Dodge’s groggy voice asked as he sat up, bleary-eyed.

“Jojo and Drew are fighting” Lily explained matter-of-factly from her place on the blanket. She and Cristina were already lying on their backs and looking up at the dark sky in anticipation. “She’s mad cuz she didn’t win anything today and he said not everyone can be a winner” she recounted quickly like the family’s own personal court reporter. She finished with a cute little giggle that Cristina quickly joined in on.

“Hey big guy” Ali tousled Dodge’s curly blonde head. “Did you have a little rest?”

“Yeah” he nodded and yawned. “I was tired.”

“You have perfect timing dude” Ashlyn took her wife’s sweatshirt and shook it out before handing it up to the brunette to put on. “You’re in mom’s seat” she rubbed his back slowly as he woke up more. “Your seat’s down there” she pointed at the blanket.

“Umm...I hafta pee” he said, as if his bladder had just woken up that instant.

“Aw Dodge...” Ali exhaled a tired sigh.

“I’ll take him” Kyle offered as he extricated himself from the chair he shared with Nathan. “But we have to go really fast. I don’t wanna miss the fireworks...”

“Oh God, don’t tell him that” Deb chuckled. “He’ll knock over people like bowling pins between here and the clubhouse.”

“There’s a porta-potty on the other side of the fire pit” Charlie said as if he’d been going to NYE at the club forever. “It’s a lot closer.”

Dodge was certainly capable of going to the bathroom by himself. He was 10-1/2 years old after all. But all of the grown-ups appreciated Kyle going with him that night. It was dark and there were tons of people everywhere and the boy had just been sound asleep. It was a good idea to send somebody more clear-headed with him.

“Please don’t tell me anybody else has to use the bathroom...” Ali closed her eyes and said a silent prayer as she waited for the answers to come in.

“We all went before we came down” Edgar replied. “Grandma made us.”

“Yes, Grandma!” Ashlyn pumped her fist and turned to grin at Deb.

“We did too” Lily added. “Mom made us” she laughed.

“Whew, ok good” Ali let out a relieved chuckle. “Thank God.”

“5 minutes everybody!” the PA announcer was back. “If you’re not on the beach you’re gonna miss the fireworks show!”

It was ridiculous, really. You could see the fireworks from anywhere on the club property. But there was something special about gathering together, gathering your family together with other families, gathering your community together to partake in the celebratory send-off of one year and the welcoming in of the next. The beach area was packed by now, full of people waiting for the lightshow in the sky. There was excitement in the air. You could feel it like a soft breeze on your skin – just barely there, but definitely there.

“Are you gonna sit with me or what, Sugarplum?” Ashlyn reached over and tugged on the brunette’s hand.

“You better believe I am” Ali gave her wife a grin before pulling the faded Satellite Beach sweatshirt over her head. “Make some room.”

Ashlyn adjusted the chair again so it was almost flat and then pressed herself to one side of it so there was room for Ali to lie next to her, on her side, in one of their favorite sleeping positions – only much more cramped. As they got into place they could hear the kids starting to get more excited about the fireworks and reliving their big, busy day. Josie had settled down nicely, curled up in Deb’s lap, safely ensconced in her loving arms. Drew and Edgar were laughing about something and then they turned to explain it to Lily and Cristina next to them and all four of them were laughing together. As moms, there wasn’t much better in the entire world than hearing that. It was always great to hear your child laugh, always. But hearing them laugh together, enjoying a shared experience that would make their bond better and closer, was truly awesome.

“Hi you” Ashlyn turned and kissed Ali’s forehead as the brunette head rested on her shoulder.

“Hey yourself” Ali smiled and puckered her lips, smiling bigger once her keeper gave her a slow, sweet kiss. “You’re nice and warm” she wiggled against Ashlyn, enjoying the body heat and waiting for her sweatshirt to warm her up.

“I had a Dodge blanket on me for an hour or so.”

“He slept that long?”

“He did. He was tired.”

“Boy only has the two speeds still, huh?” Ali chuckled again.

“Yep. That’s our boy” Ashlyn giggled and rubbed her hand over Ali’s arm and down her back to try and warm her up. “Ewwww...what is that?” the blonde pulled her hand away from Ali’s sleeve with a look of disgust on her face.

The brunette tugged the sleeve around and laughed at the wet spot she found there.

“Dodger drool” she laughed some more. “I thought you were using this to be nice to him but it was really just to keep his drool off your lap, wasn’t it?” she teased. 

“Ugh, you got me” Ashlyn groaned and squeezed the brunette tightly to her side before joining her laughter. “Can’t it be both?”

“1 minute to fireworks! 1 minute to fireworks!” the public address speaker blared again. “We’ll start the countdown at 10 seconds. This is the last warning before the countdown!”

“One minute, holy shit” Ali felt panicked all of a sudden. The relaxation she had just started to feel with her wife disappeared in a split second. “I’m not ready” she looked up to find those warm hazel eyes staring back at her with mild confusion and a little bit of amusement.

“Ready for what?”

“I mean, I barely saw you today...”

“Oh, so you missed me while you were kicking ass at all the things here today did ya?” the keeper’s eyes twinkled with mischief and love.

“I kicked your ass at a couple of those things” Ali corrected, unable to resist the quip despite her growing anxiety. She leaned up and kissed her wife’s chin and then the corner of her mouth to make it up to her. “I love you” she whispered and nuzzled into Ashlyn’s warm neck, trying to return to the blissful calm they had been working on a few seconds earlier. But Ali’s heartrate increased steadily as every second passed.

“We made it!” Kyle yelled as he and Dodge ran back from their bathroom break. “Whew! Just in the nick of time!”

“All good bud?” Ashlyn checked in with Dodge as he squeezed himself into the narrow space between Edgar and Lily on the blanket. The cousins good-naturedly made room for him.

“Yep! All good. I almost got lost though” Dodge laughed, genuinely finding the experience funny. “I was going the whole wrong way. It was so crazy.”

The PA was back and the crowd on the beach all joined in, chanting the countdown numbers in unison...

“10, 9, 8...”

“I missed our walk on the beach” Ali lifted her head up, speaking into her wife’s ear, her lips close to her skin, more desperate for the bliss she typically felt in that position on that occasion. “It doesn’t feel right.”

“What?” Ashlyn frowned and turned to look at her flustered wife. “Really? You’re kidding me, right? You’re not really upset are you?”

“I thought I’d be ok with it, but...” she paused, embarrassed by how silly she thought she sounded. She couldn’t talk herself out of her anxiety though. Her heart raced and she knew Ashlyn could feel it.

“7, 6, 5...”

“Aw baby, it’s ok” the keeper cooed. “I’m sorry we didn’t take our walk. I should have made sure we did that.”

“It’s my fault. I didn’t think it would bother me so much...and this is our last time ever doing NYE down here...”

“Wait, what?”

“My mom, she’s selling the house. That’s what she wanted to tell us all while we’re down here. That’s why we’re all here today, for one last NYE.”

“4, 3, 2...”

Ashlyn took the information in as best she could. Ali was anxious and talking fast, and the keeper wasn’t sure she was hearing everything the brunette was saying correctly either. What the hell? As the crowd chanted down the numbers all around them, Ashlyn could see the distress in those whiskey-colored eyes she loved so much. She did the only thing she could think of to try and soothe her wife, to calm her down, to reassure her that everything would be ok whether they walked on the beach that night or not. She kissed her. Ashlyn brought her hand up behind Ali’s head and pulled her down into a deep kiss. She took the brunette’s lips in her own and tried to communicate all of that to her and more. Ali pulled back at first, the regimented part of her brain wanting to wait until the countdown got to 1.

“1! Happy New Year!!!”

They had gotten a head start and it had thrown Ali off. She held her breath for a few seconds as Ashlyn held the back of her head in place and continued the intimate kiss. Slowly, but surely, the panicked sensation began to fade away as the brunette got lost in the kiss. The feeling of Ashlyn’s lips, and her tongue, transported Ali away from the stress of broken rituals and missed walks on the beach. She stopped worrying about Drew drinking so much caffeine so late at night and wondering how long it would be before Lily decided she really did have to go to the bathroom. She let thoughts of Josie’s worrisome temper, and Meg’s burgeoning relationship, and Dodge’s playful antagonism towards all of his siblings and cousins slip out of her head. She heard the crowd singing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ all around them, and a cat call from Kyle when he noticed the extra passionate kiss. She heard the booms and whizzes and bangs and squeals of the fireworks show beginning, closely followed by the oohs and aahs of all the people who had gathered together to share them.

None of that mattered. It was all background noise to the real explosion going on in her heart right at that very moment. All she could focus on was Ashlyn. Ashlyn’s strong hands holding her tight. Ashlyn’s soft lips and delicious tongue, bathed in just the slightest hint of beer, working their way around her mouth and giving her all of those incredible tingly sensations from her head down to her toes. How could she still do that? How the hell could her gorgeous keeper still have such an incredible effect on her after all these years? After so many kisses? 

Ali had been surprised by how upsetting the idea of missing their last walk on the beach for NYE at the club had been to her. She hadn’t anticipated her own reaction, at all. She had been concentrating on her mom, on making sure Deb was really sure about her decision to move North, that she hadn’t taken time to consider her own feelings. She had some amazing memories of NYEs at this club, on this beach, with this woman she was kissing the hell out of right at this very minute. She wished she had thought far enough ahead to make sure they had made time to take that walk on the beach together. She wished that very much. But, like so many millions of other things in their daily lives, it just didn’t happen the way it used to anymore. As was always the case, the kids came first – just as both she and Ashlyn wanted them to. The kids would always come first, no matter what. That was parenting, unless you were a sociopath. Yes, the kids were getting older, but they were still at that age where they got tired and took an impromptu nap on you, or took solace from curling up in Grandma’s arms after a rough, disappointing day. They were still so young in so many ways and they still needed their parents for almost all of it. 

But Ashlyn was right. It would be ok. Their relationship would survive even without one last NYE walk on the beach together. Was it sad that the occasional ritual was going to go away for good? Yes. Yes it definitely was. But there would be some new tradition that they started with their growing kids that would take its place. That’s how it worked. The things Ali and Ashlyn used to do together, just the two of them, had all been changed into family things. The Nutcracker. Skating on Frog Pond at Boston Common. Spending hours every weekend watching soccer, getting up early Saturday mornings to catch the Premiere League games, sharing the pocket handwarmers and buying more hot chocolate than any one family should ever need to buy to keep warm while cheering on playoff soccer in the cold New England November. Dancing at the spur of the moment in the kitchen while getting dinner ready, or huddling close on the couch to watch a suspenseful movie together, popcorn bowl flying when the scary part came up. All of the competitive smack-talking during any kind of game or challenge, be it board game, trash can indoor basketball game, card game, video game, any kind of challenge any of the kids could think of. Ali and Ashlyn were raising four younger versions of themselves, for better or for worse. 

But it was better. It was all so much better. Even after hard days where one or more of the kids was devastated by something that happened at school, or at practice, or at home, it was always better. Ali knew, as she felt her lungs about to explode for lack of air after the long, romantic kiss, that Ashlyn was right. As long as they had each other, everything would be ok. They would take a walk on the beach later. Or not. Maybe they would share a quiet cup of coffee the next morning before talking through the changes coming their way in brand spanking new 2034. Maybe they would stay up to all hours tonight talking and loving and talking some more. It didn’t matter what they did, not really. Ali knew Ashlyn loved her as deeply as someone could love another person. She knew it and didn’t question it because she felt the very same way about her incredible wife. 

“Thank God” Kyle joked when they finally broke for air. He threw a wadded up paper plate at them, hitting Ali in the shoulder as they gazed dreamily at each other, hearts pounding hard. “Are you even gonna watch the fireworks, you horn dogs?” he cackled and turned his attention back to the beautiful sky above.

“Thank you” Ali breathed out, smiling at her gorgeous keeper.

“You ok?” Ashlyn panted back. “I wasn’t sure what was going on with you. I just thought...”

“I’m ok. You did good, babe. I needed that. Thank you.”

A huge firework erupted high in the sky above them and Ali could see the colors reflected back down in her wife’s beautiful eyes. The big colorful streamers that shot out from the firework illuminated Ashlyn’s whole face and made the brunette smile broadly.

“You’re perfect and I love you” she pecked the blonde’s lips before settling her head back against her shoulder to watch the rest of the show filling the night sky.

“Whatever happens, we’ll just handle it together” Ashlyn kissed her wife’s forehead again, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her close. “We’ll go walk on the beach right after the show. It’ll be ok. It’ll be great. You’ll see.”

But Ali didn’t need the walk on the beach anymore. Her heart and her mind felt better and more settled than they had in a long time. Everything was already ok, way better than ok. It was easy to get caught up in routines and schedules and deadlines, especially for someone who was the family organizer like Ali was. But luckily for the brunette, she had Ashlyn to help her remember that the spontaneous, unplanned parts of life were often the very best parts of all. The keeper would be the first person to admit that their life would be utter chaos without Ali and her gift for scheduling and organizing them all. But Ashlyn was also always ready to try and embrace the times when the wheels fell off and everything went to hell. It was a big part of the reason Ali and Ashlyn were such a happy couple and had such a successful marriage. 

And that night, their last NYE at Mike’s country club in Miami, Ali was more than grateful to have that wonderful woman by her side for all of it. She watched the fireworks overhead and smiled as the sky lit up again and again. She looked over at the kids on the blanket and felt her heart swell even more when she saw their giddy, enthusiastic faces as they pointed at the sky and laughed and smiled. The brunette thought back to the very first time she had watched fireworks with Ashlyn – the first 4th of July they had spent on her friend’s rooftop deck in Boston back in 2015. Ali had often described the feeling of laying with the keeper in the chair on that roofdeck, exactly the way they were lying right that minute that NYE in 2033, as the best feeling in the whole world. She said it felt like that was where she was supposed to be, for the rest of her life. Squished into a chair with Ashlyn, holding each other close, and enjoying beautiful, spectacular fireworks. In 18 years she hadn’t changed her mind, well, at least not if you exclude sexy times together. 

That night on the beach in Miami there they were again, squished into a chair together, and sharing the experience with their whole hearts – their kids. Ali felt her emotions flare up as she thought about that first time watching fireworks with Ashlyn. Then she looked over at their children and realized, not for the first time, how much better everything was now. It was the whole fuller and deeper idea again. The picture of their life had even more details in it now and it would just continue to get fuller and deeper and better every damned day.

“It’s already great, babe” she kissed Ashlyn’s chin but they both kept their eyes skyward as the big firework finale began. “Life with you is always so much better than great.”


End file.
